The Longest Road
by mayghaen17
Summary: The Nano and the Patriots have combined forces, creating something deadly, but Nature always has a way of balancing itself. While Charlie and Monroe try to find Connor, Aaron and the others learn that Charlie is the key to defeating their enemies. As the Chosen One, her life is threatened, but her survival brings forth a new era; one that is tied to the return of Power once lost.
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: So this is my first venture in the universe that is/was Revolution. I am so so sad that it got canceled and before we got any Charloe! :( Well anywho, I know there's a lot of stories out there about these two, but here's another one. Enjoy!**

ONE

Miles and her mom were outside waiting for any sign of Monroe. Charlie was perfectly content to stay inside and wait, giving the two of them time alone, but the windows were boarded up and it was boiling inside. The suspense and the heat propelled her through the front door just in time to hear the crunch of dirt as wagon wheels rolled over it. A half smile touched her lips as Monroe approached the old church on the wagon carrying the president; someone she half hoped was alive, half hoped was dead. Knowing Monroe it was a complete toss up at this point.

He pulled the horses to a stop and jumped into the back of the wagon. Without so much as a word, he hauled the president to his feet and instructed him to get down. Two pairs of feet hit the ground shortly after, the dirt kicking up from impact. Rachel and Miles stepped forward to take the president and Monroe did a double take at the sight of Charlie staring at him while trying to hold back a smile.

"We'll start working on getting answers," Miles said as he propelled the president towards the building. "You get the horses ready," he added, looking at Monroe.

He nodded, but didn't make a move as he caught Rachel's gaze. "Thank you, Bass."

Charlie watched the moment that passed between them, but ignored whatever it was as Rachel turned and went inside to start getting answers from their prisoner. She had always planned on going inside too, but the sorrow on Bass' face propelled her down the step and towards the wagon. "I'm sorry about Connor."

"Are you?" he asked, turning on her in an instant. His eyes went wide as he realized how close she was.

Her arms hung at her sides, twitching at the ready for the first sign of danger as they always were. She stared at him with that look of being in constant amusement. As if she was always laughing in the face of danger.

"Of course I am," she replied, her blue eyes shimmering from the light of the moon. "Why would I not be?"

"You would be happy if Connor were gone. I destroyed your family and now mine is gone; turn about is fair play right?"

With a smile on her face, she shoved him. His back hit the wagon with thud and he stared at her with blazing eyes. "For the record, yes, it is about time you experienced some loss."

"Don't talk to me about loss," he hissed.

"Fine. Connor's still out there. There's still a chance."

"What do you know you're just-"

"There's still a chance," she repeated, the smile leaving her face. "Unlike my father who your men slaughtered in the street for disobeying you. Unlike my brother who your men gunned down with a machine gun from a helicopter as you desperately tried to hold on to your throne." She took a step closer to him, annoyed by the way he didn't cower. "If turn about was fair play I would have returned the favor and took Connor from you, but I didn't."

She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm to keep her there. She whipped around, her eyes going to his hand first then slowly rising to his face. Something passed between them as they stared at each other, silently battling wills. The air changed and Monroe cleared his throat while Charlie pulled her arm out of his grip and walked away.

They would be leaving soon, but Charlie wanted to do a lap around the building just to make sure they were still clear. She also needed to clear her head from whatever had just happened with Monroe. Her steps were slow and her eyes were staring off in the distance, but her mind was going over every encounter she had ever had with Monroe. Other than the dark stuff from the beginning she focused on when she met him in New Vegas and saved him from Luke. It was during that adventure that something changed between them.

She stopped moving and leaned against the building in a spot that kept her perfectly shroud in darkness. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the images of her father's body in her arms and her brother being ridden with bullets became replaced by Monroe saving her from would-be rapists. Since then there had been several moments like the one that had just passed where she could feel the pull between them. Even with all the evil he had done, the age difference, and the fact that she had slept with his son... Even after all of that, there was still _something_ there that was trying to pull them together.

There was a shift in the air and Charlie moved with ease. She sprung forward, pulling the knife from her belt and opened her eyes to see Monroe standing in front of her with his hands in the air in mock surrender. She sighed and lowered the knife. He watched as she returned the weapon to it's holster at her hip and then stared at him with that infuriating smile of hers.

"I'm sorry," he said as he lowered his hands.

"That's a first," she replied, returning to the darkened corner to lean against the rough brick exterior.

His head tilted to the side. "That's all I get?"

She shrugged. "It was overdue." She had heard the truth in his words as he said it, but she wasn't a hundred percent convinced yet.

He took a step forward and Charlie tensed as the gap between them closed. "In all seriousness, I really am sorry," he said. She saw the way his expression softened and the deep breath he took. "I'm sorry that I lashed out and for all the other things I did."

She nodded, not sure exactly what to say. He _was _sorry, but it still didn't make what he did in the past any less terrible.

"I know you're sorry about Connor and I appreciate that. You lost him too in a way."

"It was a one time thing," she replied. "Like I said, there's still a chance he'll be back. He wasn't waiting for you when you got back, he isn't dead or fighting with the Patriots."

"No, he's fighting with Neville." Charlie's eyes widened. She had not been expecting that. "He ambushed me at the rest stop. They wanted to kill the president and tried to kill us both in the process. I managed to lock them in the shed and get here, but barely."

Instead of repeating herself, Charlie simply nodded and straightened her stance, pushing herself away from the building. Even moving that inch or two brought her closer to Monroe than she realized and she saw the way his eyes flickered from her gaze to her lips and back again. Her lips curved as they began leaning in towards each other, but Monroe stopped short, his hand paused in the air as he reached out to touch her.

"This is wrong," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Thought that was your forte?" she returned, holding her ground.

He shook his head and took a half step back, turning to look away from her, running a hand through his hair. "Rachel and Miles will be ready to leave soon."

"Okay," Charlie said and shrugged as she began to walk past him towards the front of the church.

She barely made it past him before he muttered something under his breath and wrapped his hand around her arm to pull her back. In the time it took her to blink, Charlie found herself captive between the brick wall of the church at her back and Monroe's front pressed against hers. His lips covered hers as his hands went to her hips, his fingers going through the loops of her jeans to pull her closer. She cupped his face with both hands to hold him in place as she kissed him as fiercely as he kissed her.

There was so many emotions rolling through her as their mouths moved as one, their bodies molding against one another in perfect unison. She could feel his arousal through their clothes as he pressed closer than she thought possible. Her fingers sank into his hair and clenched as their kiss intensified. His hands unlatched from her jeans, one of them going behind her to slope over the curve of her ass while the other rose to cup one of her breasts. He never thought he would touch her like this, nor did he ever think she would let him. The fact that she seemed to be enjoying his touch made him nearly lose it right then and there.

Both of them went absolutely still as the sound of a branch snapping hit their ears. Her eyes opened and she looked around to locate the source of the noise, her heart skipping a beat as she saw soldiers approach them. "Patriots," she whispered against his lips.

Monroe pulled away from her and both of their arms went up to let the soldiers know they weren't going to fight. Six men approached them from all sides, their guns aimed and at the ready. "Get inside," one of them demanded.

Charlie and Monroe obeyed, turning to go into the church using the front entrance. Rachel and Miles looked up as they entered, the Patriot soldiers following them closely with guns trained their way. There were already men inside the church, men who had the other two Mathesons on their knees and President Davis on his feet, looking smug.

"We found them out back," one of the soldiers said. Miles looked up at Monroe and then slid his glance to Charlie. He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as the two were led to Rachel and Miles. They were forced to their knees beside them and looked at Davis, waiting to learn their fate.

"Well I'm glad you're all here. The most feared and deadly people in all America about to die at the hands of the very people they rebelled against."

"Is this the part where you reveal your evil plan and then kill us?" Charlie quipped.

"Charlie!" Rachel hissed at the same time a soldier came up behind her and hit her with the butt of his gun.

Charlie's face hit the floor of the church and blackness clouded her vision. She could hear the distant sound of a scuffle, but she couldn't see anything. She knew her eyes had closed, she could feel her lashes on her cheek. Once the world stopped spinning, she opened her eyes slowly and then pushed herself back to her knees. Rachel and Miles were looking at her with concern so she nodded, hoping they would understand she was fine. It was when she turned to look at Monroe that she the wild fury in his eyes. The moment their gaze locked he seemed to calm down. As usual, they understood each other without saying one word.

"Next time you speak, I'll have them shoot you before you finish your sentence," Davis threatened, looking at Charlie coldly. Knowing it would be wise to be silent, she took a deep breath and stared at him silently. "Well, I guess there really is no point in not saying anything. You're right, kid, I am going to kill you. Might as well get some satisfaction in telling you what I'll do next knowing the four of you won't be able to stop me."

Monroe noticed the way Charlie's body tensed as Davis called her a kid and he made a mental note to never call her that. Come to think of it, the only person he had ever heard call her that and not have it be a bad thing was Miles and he could understand that. Charlie was young, but she was definitely not a child. Monroe did a double take as he caught Miles staring at him, staring at Charlie. He didn't react as he drew his attention back to Davis as he gave away his plans for staring a war between Texas and California. The Patriots would wait it out and then sweep in to pick up the pieces and start anew.

"And now that you know, I think it's time to say goodbye." He looked around to the soldiers. "Shoot them," he demanded and smirked. No one moved for a long moment. "I said shoot them!" Davis yelled.

Slowly, the soldiers adjusted their aim until all guns were pointed at Davis. "Sorry, they're not really Patriots so they don't listen to you," Miles said as the four of them got to their feet.

Behind them, a door opened and in came the old Texas General with Charlie's grandfather. "I have to hand it to you boys, I really thought you were bullshitting me and I was walking into a trap. Guess I'm coming out of retirement after all," he said as he approached Davis. "You're going to love Texas prison," he said before pushing the president to his knees.

Charlie turned around to the solider that had been behind her. It was a rather large man that worked as a blacksmith, posing as a Patriot soldier as per their premeditated plan. She smiled at him before balling her hand into a fist and striking him right in the jaw. He went down, dropping the gun in the process, and Charlie said nothing as she walked out of the church and climbed into the back of the wagon, settling in for their journey to Austin.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: Thanks for all the feedback/love guys! I'm really excited for this story and my outline has a great many chapters so there will be plenty of story to come. First off, I would like to mention that I came up with this while listening to "The Longest Road" by Morgan Page, hence the name of this fic. My goal is to update every Monday morning. If I get enough chapters in the queue, I'll start posting Monday's and Friday's. (As of this very moment I'm writing chapter eight!)**

**I should mention that Bachel is so, so gross, but because it's so bad and will create perfect drama, it will still be a thing, but only a past mistake revealed at the worst possible moment. Another little tidbit if you're new to my writing...I dole out some happy endings, some dark and just plain mean. As for which one Charloe is getting, I'm still deciding so consider yourself warned now! On that note, enjoy!**

TWO

The taps were flowing, the bottles emptying faster than new ones could be found. Austin was bursting with celebration of their victory over the Patriots and the renewed sense of rebellion at the thought of war that would follow. War was not the ideal, but Charlie was ready for whatever took to the Patriots out once and for all. Granted, the Patriots were nothing compared to the Nano, but that was an issue for another day. For now, the dark liquid burning its way down her throat was all she wanted to think about.

Then _he _caught her eye as he strolled through the crowd.

Now there were two things she wanted to think about.

With that in mind, she got up from her table with Miles and some other Texan soldiers to go after Monroe.

"Victory celebrations not your thing anymore?"

Monroe stopped at the sound of her voice. He turned to look at her and was rewarded by the memory of their kiss outside the church the night before. He swallowed thickly as he tried to focus and shook his head. "Not right now," he replied.

She took a few steps closer and extended her arm, shaking the nearly empty bottle of liquor in invitation. "You need to relax."

He took the bottle, his fingers brushing hers. He wasn't quite sure he felt about how he reacted to that light touch. She was having more of an effect on him than he was comfortable with. "Looks like you've relaxed enough for both of us," he said, raising the bottle to his lips.

"I'm just enjoying the moment," she replied.

He handed the bottle back to her and watched as she drank deeply. "Well, enjoy it while it lasts," he said. "Being a soldier won't give you many moments like these."

Charlie snorted. "What, you think I'm becoming a soldier now?"

His brows rose at her words. "Well... Yeah."

"I'm sure you've noticed by now, but I'm not so good at following orders. I would not make a good soldier." Monroe noticed the way she rubbed her wrist; the wrist he knew sported the brand of the Monroe Republic.

"No, you Charlie, are definitely not soldier material." He looked around and saw Miles, Rachel, and Aaron laughing at a table in the crowd and then turned back to Charlie. He tilted his head, beckoning her to follow him.

They walked in silence until the sound of Austin's celebration was dull background noise and the light of the candles and lanterns was replaced by the stars and the moon. "So what now?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You're obviously not joining the Texas army."

"No," he replied, taking another drink.

"And neither are Miles, my mom, or Aaron. They have the Nano to worry about. That's not something I want to deal with."

"What do you want?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and stared him right in the eyes. "I want the Patriots to suffer."

Monroe's lips curved slightly and he tipped the bottle towards her. "Something we have in common."

She smiled and Monroe found himself enjoying the sight. "So...What's next for the infamous Monroe?"

"Connor's still out there and, like you said, there's still a chance. I have to find him."

"And then what?" she couldn't help herself, she was curious to know. He replied by staring at her to which she rolled her eyes. "Miles said you wanted the Republic back."

"I'm not going to lie and say I don't, but I want my son more than anything else."

She nodded and took the bottle back before raising it to her lips, the last ounce of liquid burning down her throat. She tipped the empty bottle towards him and said, "Well, good luck with that."

As she turned to leave, he reached out for her. "Come with me."

"What? Why?"

He moved to stand in front of her. "Because you're the best tracker I've come across in years."

"Not what you said while we were searching for Miles," she muttered.

He smirked, but didn't comment. "You're more ruthless and dangerous than most people I know. You're brave without being reckless and..." his voice trailed and Charlie grinned.

"Say it or I'm not going."

He took a deep breath, but gave in. "I need you, Charlie."

She stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. "No."

"No? But you just said-"

"I help you find Connor and then what? I either go my own way to find Mom and Miles or I can stay with you and potentially help you rebuild the Republic. Pretty shitty options for me."

His jaw clenched and his eyes flashed with anger. "Charlie-"

"I would rather have Texas in control of the continent than see you as ruler again. You were a dictator, not a leader."

"I know what I was," he said coldly. "I was ruled by anger and greed and I paid the price for it. Before I set my sights on getting the power back on, but I know where I went wrong and I'd like to fix that. I can do better. I _will _do better."

Charlie's lips parted to say something, but he cut her off by taking her empty hand, the one with the brand on the wrist.

"We work well together, Charlie, and I want to do better. With your help I can find Connor and build a Republic I can be proud of."

His thumb brushed over the branded flesh and Charlie bit her lip. He was being genuine; she could see it in his eyes. Whatever darkness lie between them was in the past and she knew she would wind up just tracking him down in the end. She nodded then and pulled her hand away.

"Two things before I agree."

"Name them."

"One, we stay long enough for me to say goodbye and get supplies."

"Done."

"Two, I'm not following you, so don't expect me to take orders. We're in this together and our decisions will be made jointly."

Monroe nodded. "The sooner we go, the hotter the trail."

"I need to say goodbye. You gather the supplies and after a full night's rest we'll head out." She moved closer and grinned up at him. "Also, a simple thank you goes a long way."

Her blue eyes were sparkling with mischief and that damned grin on her face made Monroe grit his teeth. She was close enough that if he moved he could touch her and he wanted to, but something stopped him. Knowing the moment had passed, Charlie began to step away, her body slightly brushing his as she went. "Where are you going?" he asked, turning to follow her movements.

She shook the bottle at him. "It's empty; time for a new one."

"So that's it? We're not going to talk about what happened last night?" The words were out of his mouth faster than he could register what he was saying.

To anyone else, it would have looked as though the smile had stayed plastered on her face, but Monroe saw the twitch of her jaw the way her eyes hardened ever so slightly, indicating that she was remembering their kiss. "What did you want to talk about?" she challenged. "The fact that you kissed me or the fact that that's not all you wanted to do?"

He hadn't expected her to play dumb and ignore it, but for her to be so blatant and make it seem as though she didn't want it made him angry. "How about the fact that you kissed me back?" he returned, taking a step forward.

She held her ground defiantly and tilted her face up to continue their stare down. Her slender shoulders lifted casually and her smile widened. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"It happened." She took a deep breath, enjoying the tortured look on his face. "What about it?"

He was at a loss for words so he moved his head from side to side to side. "I don't know."

She threw him off guard as she closed the gap between them, her front brushing against his. She was close enough to feel him harden and felt it again as she reached up to lay her free hand on his chest. Slowly, tantalizingly, her hand rose up the curve of his shoulder, the sturdy column of his neck, and then rested on his bearded cheek. "Then I guess we'll figure that out on the road," she breathed and brought his mouth to hers.

The contact was brief, but he could feel it everywhere. He felt the loss instantly the moment she pulled away. Without another word, she turned away from him, leaving him to watch her perfectly shaped ass as she marched towards the town. When she disappeared from sight, Monroe realized he had been holding his breath and exhaled sharply. He ran a hand through his hair as he pondered what he was getting himself into. As he realized how much he really did want to find out, he made his own way back into town to begin gathering supplies for their mission to find Connor.

* * *

When Charlie returned to their table with an empty bottle in her hand, Miles noticed the change in her. He wanted to ask her what it was, but there was something about her stare that made him not want to know. "Where did you run off to?" he asked despite himself.

"I had business to attend to," she replied as she took the bottle from his hand and took a drink. "Where's my mom?" she asked as she handed it back to him and wiped at her lips.

"She went to help Gene at the infirmary."

Charlie nodded and smiled at the sight of Aaron with his arm around Priscilla. She had heard him tell stories about his wife back when she lived with Danny and her father, but to see them together was something else. She could see the love there and it made her ache with want. She had never had that kind of relationship whether it was one of her own or someone else's to see, but it fascinated her enought to want it. Not wanting to go down that road, she turned away and did a double take at the sight of Miles staring at her. "What?"

"You went off with Bass."

"Not really. I went somewhere and he was going in that direction. We talked a little."

He narrowed his eyes. "The guys said they found you two in the back of the church."

She nodded. "You guys went inside with Davis and I told him I was sorry about Connor. He lashed out so I walked away. He followed me to apologize and that's where they found us."

"Uh-huh."

Charlie knew he was aware she wasn't telling him everything, but she had no intention of saying things she wasn't quite sure she was ready to admit to herself. Instead, she got up and beckoned for him to follow. They walked towards the house she was sharing with Miles, her mom, Aaron, and Priscilla as she was ready to turn in for the night.

"We're leaving tomorrow."

"Excuse me?" he said, stopping in his tracks.

"He's going after Connor and I'm going to help him."

He took a deep breath and raked a hand through his hair in attempt to calm his anger. "Like hell you are."

"You really think anything you say or do is going to keep me from going? Let's face it, Miles. I'm not cut out for the army and if we let Bass go after Connor by himself we're just asking for trouble. At least this way I can keep an eye on them and keep them from truly restarting the Republic."

Miles winced. "Bass? When did that start?" he asked. He had heard her say that once before and it had worried him then too.

She shrugged. "I'm going."

He sighed heavily and pulled her to him. "Fine, but you're telling Rachel."

"Coward," she breathed against his chest and then pulled away to smile at him.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and stared at her. "Please be careful," he warned. He wanted to say more, but that would mean admitting that there was something else to be concerned about. Neither of them was ready to talk about that with the other so Miles kept his mouth shut.

"I will," she said as they approached their house. "Night Miles," she said and went inside for that good night's rest she had told Monroe she needed.


	3. Chapter 3

THREE

When Charlie woke, it was to the smell of food. It lured her out of bed in just her pants and a dark tank top. Downstairs, Gene was making eggs and sausage. When he noticed her walking into the room, he smiled and pointed to the plate. "There's more than enough for two if you want some."

"Please," she said as she grabbed the plate and went to sit at the table to eat. "Anyone else here?"

"Aaron and Priscilla are still sleeping. Miles and Rachel were leaving when I started cooking. Rachel said something about the infirmary and I would meet her there later. Not sure where Miles ran off to."

"No worries, I'll find him," she said before digging into the food. Going on the road meant less food readily available. She was going to eat like a champ today. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Sure kiddo," he replied as he made a plate of his own and then joined her at the table.

"I need a first aide kit for the road. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but it would be nice to have a really well stocked kit."

"You're leaving?"

"I'm going to help Monroe find Connor," she said and then took another bite. "Make sure they don't do anything stupid once they have each other."

"Have you told your mother yet?"

She shook her head, her golden waves brushing over her shoulders. "Not yet. I'll get to it," she assured him.

"Well I'm not going to tell her," he replied, his eyes getting big.

Charlie smiled as she took another mouthful. Everyone was so afraid of Rachel that it was amusing at this point. Then again, she got the same reaction from people when it came to herself. Dangerous and cutthroat seemed to run in the family. "I know. Everyone's so afraid of her. You should have seen Miles when he thought I wanted him to deliver the news."

Gene laughed and watched as she finished the contents on her plate and put it in the sink to be washed later. "When are you leaving?"

She shrugged. "Either later tonight or first thing tomorrow."

"I'll have that kit ready for you tonight then."

"Thanks," she said and walked over to sling her arms around his shoulders. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Good," he stated and put his hands on her forearms.

After a few moments, she let go and went back up to her room to grab the rest of her outfit. As she tugged on her boots, jacket, and latched her chain and sword belt around her waist she made a mental list of all the things she had to do today. First things first was to find Monroe and divide the responsibilities. As if he was thinking the same thing, Charlie opened her front door to see him standing there, hand poised in the air as though he was just about to knock.

"Morning," he said, his eyes doing a once over of her body despite his best efforts.

"Morning," she returned and snuck past him, closing the door behind her. "I made a list of all the things we need. I was actually going to find you so we can split up getting them."

"Charlie..." he started and shook his head.

"You're the one that asked me to come with," she reminded him. "I'm in this now. If you leave without me I'll just take my time gathering supplies and then track you down anyway."

"I know I asked, but that's not why I'm hesitant."

"I know," she replied and crossed her arms over her chest. "My words still stand. Are you ready for the list?"

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I know what we need. I've done this before."

"Fine, then I'll tell you what I'm getting today and you make sure you don't get double. I'm having my grandfather make a first aide kit, I'm getting horses, and weapons. I'll probably have time to get a second pair of clothes and water. You can get food-"

"I'll get my own weapons."

She inclined her head. "Fine. Anything else you'll need me to get?"

"No, the first aide kit will do nicely."

"See, you do need me," she said and turned to walk away, but as usually he stopped her. This time with words, not touch.

"Will you wait to tell your mother until we're about to leave? I really don't want to deal with her."

Charlie turned to smile at him and began walking backwards, her hands spread out. "Depends on if Miles caves before I get to it."

As she turned back around, Monroe called after her, grateful that she didn't stop again. "We leave at first light tomorrow." She raised a hand to indicate that she heard him and then disappeared as she rounded the corner of a building.

Monroe ran a hand through his hair and turned to knock on the door. Gene answered it not long after and shook his head. "Miles isn't here."

"Any idea where I can find him?"

"Probably at the prison. Or the bar," he replied and shut the door as Monroe's lips parted to speak.

Brushing it off, Monroe turned and headed to the prison first. He didn't get far before he spotted Miles coming out of a shop. Miles stopped for a second and the stern look on his face let Monroe know he was in for a long speech regarding Charlie. "Miles," he said in greeting. There had only been a handful of times that he felt awkward around Miles, but he could not recall any one of them as bad as this one.

"Bass," Miles returned. As Monroe started to exhale he saw the look on Miles' face, but was too late to duck before a fist collided with his face. "You don't think I noticed the looks you were giving her? Really Bass? She's less than half your age, she slept with your son, and _she's my niece_!" Miles hissed as Monroe rubbed his jaw.

He wasn't going to play dumb nor was he going to assume that Charlie had said anything about their encounters. He knew Miles had picked up on something during their standoff with Davis. "I'm aware," was all he could think of to say. It was neither a confirmation nor was it a denial.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Would you relax?" Bass snapped and tried hard to keep his fists at his sides.

"Something changed between the two of you ever since she brought you to Rachel and I. Whatever it is, I don't want to know, but it has to stop. Bass-" Miles stopped as he realized they had an audience.

The two of them looked around, nodding to those that were watching them instead of carrying on about their day. Bass rubbed his jaw again and shook his head as Miles looked at him again. "She's helping track Connor and once I have him, I'll make sure we get her back to you."

Miles took a step closer and gave Monroe one of the hateful looks he had ever seen. "I swear, Bass. You touch her and I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever do." He shook his head and glanced down for a second before locking eyes with Monroe again. "You know what, whatever you do to her, I do to you."

"Miles-" Monroe started, the color draining from his face as he shuddered.

"Just remember that when you leave." He stepped back and looked up at the early morning sky. "Let's never bring this up again."

"Please," Monroe agreed, wanting that more than anything.

"I'm on my way to the prison to help them with their game plan. You want to join?"

"Lead the way," he replied and walked silently beside Miles towards the prison.

* * *

One of the last stops on Charlie's list was the blacksmith. The man sitting by the fire working on reshaping someone's sword was the one from the church. He lifted his mask when she walked in and his eyes went wide at the sight of her. Charlie narrowed her eyes at the large bruise on his cheekbone. "I'm not here to hurt you," she said.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, anger deep in his voice. "You knew we weren't Patriots."

"You hit me first."

"It was either that or shoot you. You're the one that mouthed off."

Charlie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Hit for hit; it was justified and she wasn't going to apologize. Especially since he was the one that had spotted her and Monroe first, ending their first encounter. "I need my sword sharpened. I need it before you close tonight."

"You think I'm going to do you any favors?"

"No, but I'm willing to pay extra," she said, tossing a bag of diamonds his way.

He opened it and slowly looked back up at her. It was clear he was unhappy about doing this for her, but he was more than happy to take her money. "I'll have it by six," he said and stepped forward to take her sword.

"Thanks," she replied and took her leave of the shop. It was finally time to track down her mother and tell her that she was leaving with Monroe in the morning. She would have saved that for absolute last, but getting money for their travels was something she was going to have to do late at night when there were hardly any people awake to stop her. She pushed the thoughts of thievery aside and made her way to the infirmary.

When she got there she not only found her mother, but Miles, Monroe, and her grandfather. They were huddled in what her grandfather was using as an office and storeroom and they all shared the same look of gloom. Monroe looked at her, but turned away quickly and Charlie noticed the glare that Miles gave him. She rolled her eyes and looked around at the others, waiting for someone to tell her the bad news.

"Really? We're going to keep me out of the loop now?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Davis is missing," Rachel said, turning to look at her.

"How is that even possible?"

"No one knows. It seems that he just vanished into thin air. Those that were still alive don't recall seeing him leave, but there were bodies left behind that say he didn't go quietly," Miles answered. "The Texans are preparing a search party. He hasn't been gone long, we should be able to track him easily enough."

Charlie shot a glance at Monroe, but realized he was refusing to look at her. "How sure are we that the Texans haven't staged this and are keeping Davis somewhere else?" Charlie asked.

"We aren't, but Blanchard doesn't really have anyone but us to hide him from and he knows better," Monroe said, still not looking at her.

"Alright, well, are we joining this search party or no?" Her question was directed towards Monroe and from the way he shifted his weight, she knew he understood.

"Blanchard should have started by now, it'll be dark soon," Rachel observed, looking out the window. "Even the best trackers can't do much at night."

"Then it'll be first thing in the morning," Miles said, looking from Monroe to Charlie. "Bass and I will go find out," he added knowing why Charlie had come there in the first place.

"I'll come with," Gene said quickly.

All three men practically ran from the office causing Charlie to shake her head and smile. "What's with them?" Rachel asked, picking up on their odd behavior.

"They know what I came here to tell you and they don't want to be around when I say it."

Rachel's arms folded in the same way Charlie's were as she stared at her daughter. "Charlie..." her voice was filled with warning.

"Monroe and I are leaving in the morning to track down Connor."

Rachel smiled in a cold, deadly way. "Like hell."

"Miles already tried this, Mom. I'm going whether or not you want me to. He just wants his son and he needs help. Besides, this way I can make sure they don't do anything stupid once they're reunited."

"Since when do want to spend so much time with him? Charlie, he-"

"None of us are saints, Mom. We've all killed other people's loved ones, but we treat Monroe as if he is above forgiveness. He saved me, Mom. When we were leaving New Vegas I found myself in a situation where I wasn't exactly fearing for just my life, but he was there. Instead of taking of advantage, he made sure I got back on my feet and then he's done so much after that for all of us. He just wants to find his son and I think he deserves at least that much which is why I'm going to help him."

Her head tilted to the side as she studied Charlie. "What happened between the two of you at the church? We left you out front by the horses. Why did the soldiers say they found you in the back?"

Charlie hated repeating herself, but she did it with an impassive look on her face. "He lashed out, I walked away, he followed me to apologize and that's when they found us. I was doing a lap around the church just in case it wasn't our men out there."

"Charlie, if he laid a hand on you-"

"Mom, stop. I'm going. You can be mad if you want, but it's not going to do you any good."

"What happens when you find Connor?"

"I don't know. I'll probably come back. If you're not here, I'll find you. It's what we do; find each other."

Rachel's face softened at that and she reached out to pull Charlie to her. There was still a lot of anger and unresolved issues between the two of them, but she knew Charlie was leaving regardless and if this was one of their last moments together, a real possibility, Rachel wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to hold her oldest, sole surviving child.

"Please be careful, Charlie."

"You too, Mom," she said against the older woman's shoulder. After a few moments longer, Charlie pulled away and left the office without another word.

* * *

It was late when Charlie turned down the street to the place where she and the others were staying. Her freshly sharpened sword bounced off her hip as she walked, her pockets filled with freshly looted jewels that she and Monroe would need on their travels. She only felt slightly guilty for taking them, but she knew from past experience that they would need them. A Matheson and a Monroe traveling together did not make things easy.

As she got closer to the house she saw something by the door. After a few more steps she realized it was just Monroe leaning against the exterior. She hadn't seen it earlier since he hadn't looked at her, but she saw the purple tint to his jaw in the dim light around them. "Miles or my mom?" she asked.

"Miles," he replied. "Where have you been?"

"Getting supplies," she said.

"We should leave now."

"Now?"

"The search party for Davis begins at first light. If we're still here they're going to make us join which will put further distance between us and Connor. If Truman came back and helped Davis, fine. We'll track them later and get the satisfaction of killing them ourselves." He watched her unchanging face and rubbed his aching jaw. "You know I'm right."

"I'm not disagreeing. Do you have everything?" she asked. He nodded and looked behind him. She could barely make out the packs behind him, but they were there. "Alright, let me go in and get my stuff."

He nodded and watched her disappear into the house. Charlie made her way quietly through the darkened house. There were a few candles burning here and there for her sake. When she got to her room she stuffed her things into her bag and gathered up all her weapons. She turned around a few times making sure she had gotten everything. As she went back downstairs she blew out the candles so they wouldn't be wasted. It was when she stopped in the kitchen that she saw the first aide kit on the table. She looked back at the stairs and took a deep breath, silently saying goodbye to the rest of the people inside before going back to Monroe.

"Let's go," he said and they walked towards the stable to get the horses she had reserved for them. In hardly any time at all they were on their way out of Austin to begin their journey.


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR

The moon was still nearly full, but it was on the downward spiral in terms of its cycle. For now, it provided excellent light as Priscilla and Aaron made their way to the well. Normally they would get the water during the day, but they both wanted some time away from the city and to enjoy the silence that night brought them. It was peaceful out here by themselves. Even after they had filled the bottles they brought with them, they wandered around until they found a little hill. That was where they had been for the past half hour, just staring off into the emptiness made visible by the bright moon and the stars.

"I hope Charlie is okay," Priscilla mused, drawing them both from their thoughts.

It had been two days since Charlie and Monroe disappeared. Aaron had been saddened to know that she hadn't said goodbye to him. He had always felt a special bond with her. Hell, he had known her since she was small. The sting of her disappearance lessened when he realized her departure hadn't exactly been planned. "I hope so. God only knows with Monroe."

"I don't think he would hurt her."

"What makes you say that?"

She shrugged as she turned her head to look at him. "He had so many chances and yet he always seems to be there for her."

Aaron let her words sink and in realized she was right. "Still, he's not a liked man, especially out here. Trouble follows him like moths to a flame. She'll always be in danger just by being around him."

Priscilla shrugged. "She's a smart girl, she'll be able to take care of herself."

Aaron smiled as he thought about all the things Charlie had been through lately. A part of him was proud and thought about Ben. Her father would have liked the strong woman she had become, but he wasn't so sure he would have liked the "kill first, ask questions later" attitude of hers. That part eerily reminded him of Miles. Not wanting to think about that, he put an arm around Priscilla. "We should probably head back."

She nodded and got to her feet. "Are you planning on staying here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to stay with you," she said, smiling up at him. "But my daughters are out there somewhere and I would like to see them again."

Aaron nodded and pulled her to him. "Any idea where they could be?"

"Maybe Wichita. It's the only place Darren had family other than the East Coast."

"It's a start," Aaron said and smiled at her when she pulled away. "We'll go soon. We'll find them."

They only took but a couple of steps back towards the town before a blinding streak of light forced their eyes shut. When they could open their eyes again they discovered a small group of green fireflies to their left. Both of them stared at the group with wide eyes. Rooted with terror, neither of them could move from their spot. Something changed in the swirling buzz and Aaron squinted as he saw something. It was almost as if they were attacking one another.

His gaze slid to Priscilla who seemed to be realizing this same thing. As he turned back to watch the fireflies, he noticed there was definitely two groups of bugs. A very small group was being assaulted by the majority and they were losing quickly. Their lights started to dim and the ones being attacked fell to the ground. As if that was their goal, the large swarm hesitated for a second and then disappeared as fast as they had come into view.

Priscilla and Aaron could only watch as the battered fireflies pulled themselves together and took on the form of a blonde woman. Priscilla heard Aaron's breath hitch and looked to see his eyes fill with recognition. "Maggie?" he breathed, his voice full of disbelief.

The blonde didn't smile back at him as she wafted over the patches of grass and dirt. She shimmered like a ghost as if there wasn't enough energy to make a full image. He could see through her, what little there was of her. She stopped within an arm's length of him and reached out, her arm forming as it moved. "Help us," she said, her voice cracking.

"No," Priscilla stated defiantly. She was done with the Nano.

"Help us," Maggie repeated. "There is... division... human... key to extinction." Her voice went in and out like a broken record, her image distorting like a hologram every few seconds. "Some of us... too powerful... don't agree."

"I don't understand," Aaron said.

She moved closer and wrapped her hand around his wrist. Priscilla watched as he went still, his eyes wide. It looked as though he were getting shocked, but she knew he was receiving a message. "Help us," Maggie repeated again as she let go, a look of pleading in her eyes.

One instant she was shimmering brightly before them, the next she was gone. In her stead was a pile of fireflies with a dying glow to them. Aaron snapped out of his daze and hurried to scoop them up. "I need a container," he said urgently.

Priscilla found an empty one and held it out so that he could gently put the dying Nano bugs into it. Aaron met her eyes, his full of worry and something else, something like hope? "What did she tell you?" she asked.

"Everything we could have hoped for. We need to tell the others," he replied and gave her a smile before taking her hand and pulling her towards the town.

* * *

_That feeling of being powerless flowed through her body. Power wasn't something she craved, but losing it was her worst nightmare. She could see Maggie struggling beside her as they sat there, tied to the chairs on the plane. The men were rifling through their packs and poking fun at Aaron being overweight. He was tied down too, but towards the back, too far away to do any real help. One of the men stopped going through her stuff when he realized her eyes were open and Charlie tried hard not to flinch._

_ He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled luridly. He leaned in even closer and closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. "I wonder if you taste as good as you smell."_

_ "Leave her alone!" Maggie cried out, earning a slap from one of the other men._

_ Charlie's eyes closed for a second and when she opened them again, her surroundings were different. She was standing in a large room filled with people. Some she recognized, some she didn't, but one thing stood out the most. Strausser. He had a gun aimed at Danny and before Charlie realized what she was doing, she moved to stand between them, the barrel centimeters from her skin. As his fingers inched towards the trigger in slow motion, Charlie's eyes closed again._

_ As she expected, the scene changed again. She was pressed against the wall of the bar and someone off to her right was locking the door, keeping her in. Her fingers clutched at the wall trying to force herself to stay on her feet, but the drugs in her system were too strong. The men advanced on her, their leering faces and lust in their eyes made her sick. That feeling of powerlessness hit her again, this time stronger than before._

_ Her vision blurred and her eyes fluttered. When it cleared the bar was gone, replaced with the interior of a former safe house. Neville stood before her with his gun pressed against her temple. Her body shook as she tried to remain brave in the face of death. Her guilt wracked her nerves as his finger slid to the trigger. They locked eyes for what seemed like eternity, but the determination, hate, rage, and sorrow in Neville's dark eyes never wavered. As his finger squeezed the trigger, Charlie's eyes closed yet again, the clicking sound fading away as she found herself lying on the floor of the bar._

_ Her vision was still cloudy, but she could make out the bodies and the blood that littered the floor. She heard footsteps and looked up to see _him_ approach her. He had blood smeared all over him and an unreadable emotion on his face. Had she been more alert she would have been able to read it, but as it was, she could feel herself giving in to the drugs. The feeling of being powerless coursed through her as he approached and she felt true fear for the first time in a long while as he leaned down. As his arm extended to reach for her, Charlie felt her eyes closing again, her name on his lips swarming around her like an echo._

Charlie inhaled deeply as she sat up with a jolt. Every fiber of her being felt as though she had been hit by a car and her skin was bathed in a cold sweat. As she opened her eyes she saw Monroe kneeling by her side. He had a hand on her shoulder and concern in his eyes. "Charlie?" he questioned wanting to know what was wrong and how he could help.

There was fear in her eyes, real fear, and Monroe tried to remember if he had ever seen that in her before. If he had, he couldn't recall. He had seen bravery, determination, sadness, and a myriad of other emotions, but not fear. She had never been this vulnerable around him and Monroe didn't have the slightest clue how to handle this situation.

She closed her eyes as her mind worked through what was real and what had been a nightmare. Her breathing calmed and her heart wasn't slamming against her chest anymore. Slowly she blinked her eyes open and looked up at Monroe. She felt his hand on her arm and took the comfort he offered.

"Are you alright?" he asked as she moved into a sitting position. He stayed where he was, on his knees, and looked at her.

She nodded and brushed the hair out of her face, pulling it together and over one of her shoulders. "It was just a dream."

"That was one hell of dream," he commented, earning a sharp look from her.

She nodded. "I was reliving some of the bad things that happened in the past."

"Oh," was all he could say. He pushed himself to his feet and offered his hand to help her up as well. She took it and nodded in thanks as he tightened his grip as she stumbled. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked, their arms slowly going back to their sides.

"The bad stuff."

Monroe was grateful to see that the normal playfulness in her eyes was back as well as that permanent smirk on her lips. "I wasn't dreaming about you."

He was surprised by that. He was silent as she moved to their supplies in search of water. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Charlie-"

She shook her head as she finished the bottle and tossed it back in the bag so they could fill it again later. "Let it go, Monroe. That stuff is in the past."

"You don't have to be strong all the time, Charlie."

"Yes I do. If I let myself wallow every time something bad happened I would be a train wreck. Bad stuff happens, I deal with it, I move on. What's done is done." She turned and began to walk away from their makeshift camp.

"Where are you going?" he asked, taking a step after her.

"I need to pee," she replied over her shoulder and disappeared into the thinly spread nature surrounding them.

Monroe sighed and looked around. He admired her strength, but he hadn't realized until that moment that he had never seen her _not _be strong. She was stubborn and strong all the time. He snorted as he thought about how much like Miles she was. He stopped moving as his thoughts went down another path, one that was interrupted by Charlie's voice calling his name.

It was soft and devoid of any urgency, but filled with wonder. He followed her voice as she called for him a second time and stopped short when he found her. Charlie had her back to him when he approached, her gaze stuck on the patch of dirt before her. There were five fireflies, but instead of yellow they were green and they appeared to be dying, their lights flickering.

"Nano?" he asked. She nodded and moved to get a closer look. As she bent down to pick one up, Monroe lifted her by her bicep and pulled her back. "Don't touch them," he pleaded, looking at her with wide eyes.

Before Charlie could protest or pull out of his grip, a cracking noise like static on a TV filled their ears and they could only stand there and stare in awe as a figure appeared before them. They both recognized the woman and Charlie could feel her eyes well with tears. "Nora," she breathed.

Nora smiled, a bright flash of light coursing through her image. "Help us," she said, looking at first to Monroe and then to Charlie. "Chosen." No sooner had she said the words did she vanish.

Charlie pulled out of Monroe's grasp and bent to pick up the fireflies. Four of them had stopped glowing and had wilted, but one of them still hummed with energy that she could feel in her hands. "What the hell was that?" Monroe asked.

"I don't know," Charlie replied as she took the surviving Nano in her other hand, letting the dead ones fall to the ground. "But we should keep it."

She took his hand and placed the bug into his palm, curling his fingers around it. "What-"

"Put it in a bottle or something," she said as she let go of him. "I still have to pee." Needing to take care of those needs as well as needing to deal with her nightmares and seeing Nora again made Charlie want some alone time. Monroe was right, she didn't need to be strong all the time, but she wasn't ready to be vulnerable around him on purpose yet. Instead, she left him there, holding a dying piece of Nano while they both wondered what the meaning of their message was.

* * *

Miles and Rachel had been lounging on the couch when Priscilla and Aaron stormed in. They sat up quickly, Miles reaching for his sword, ready to confront whatever danger followed. Aaron fumbled as he produced a bottle and set it down on the coffee table. Aaron took a moment to catch his breath while the new couple took in the sight of the barely flickering light the captured bugs were emitting.

"Aaron," Rachel began, her voice light. "Is that-"

"Nano, yes," he answered.

"Why would you bring that here?" Miles asked, still holding on to his sword.

"They asked us for our help," Priscilla stated.

"They took the form of Maggie," explained Aaron. "They couldn't form whole sentences, but they said something about extinction and a human key." He paused and shook his head. Rachel noticed the way his eyes lit up in the dim light as he continued. "They told me everything."

"Everything?" Rachel questioned.

"Everything," he repeated.

Miles put his sword down and looked at the bottle that contained the Nano. "Aaron, please explain what the hell is going on."

"It was taking too much energy for them to speak as Maggie. She touched me to deliver their message. As you know from what they told us from possessing Priscilla, they have decided that humans are the problem and they next step is to destroy the human race. But that's not true for all the Nano."

Rachel's eyes went wide as she exchanged glances with Miles, but they remained silent as they waited to hear what else Aaron had to say.

"Some of the Nano know that killing off the human race is not what they were created for. There is a schism within the Nano, those that believe they were created to help heal the human race want our help. They want to stop the other Nano before they team up with the Patriots or anyone else bent on destruction."

"They're teaming up with the Patriots?" Miles stated. "Fuck."

Aaron nodded, but he smiled brightly. "The good Nano are still small, but they're building their numbers. They mentioned a Chosen One, someone that they would be able to evolve in order to save the human race and take out the other Nano. All they want in return is for us to help. The message was cut short, but I remember something about Bradbury, Idaho. It was significant enough for me to remember, I'm sure it's something worth looking into," he concluded.

"Did they mention who the Chosen One might be?" Rachel asked.

Aaron nodded and smiled warmly at her. "Charlie," he breathed. "They said it was Charlie."


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n: So I still haven't decided on a happy ending or not for Charloe, but! that's a long way off, so plenty of time to decide. These two are very intense...**

**P.S. thank you to all of those that took the time to read and those that read/reviewed! You're awesome :)**

FIVE

Odessa, Texas had always been up and coming. Even now with nearly two decades without power, it was still in pretty good shape. Monroe loved his hometown of Philly with all his heart, but he admired the way Texans took pride in what was theirs. All signs to Connor's trail had led them here, much to Monroe's dismay. Sure, it was Texas, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be swarming with Patriots. Upon arrival, he was relieved to see how wrong he had been in assuming.

They had spent half the day riding towards the town and the rest of the afternoon providing Connor and Neville's description to anyone that would listen. Their search had seemed to come to a dead end as they met at the bar as the sun began to set. Monroe was pacing outside the establishment waiting for Charlie. As she approached she could see the frustration on his face. "Any luck?" he asked, hope filling his eyes as he saw her.

She shook her head slightly, feeling a little sorry for zapping the hope from her eyes. "There are still a lot of people here and we only had a half a day. We'll just have to continue tomorrow." She then held a hand up, revealing a brass key that glinted in the dying sun. "I got us a room."

Her smile widened into a full on grin as he stared at her. She had wondered what his reaction would be when she booked it earlier. She was thoroughly amused at the conflict that seemed to be going on inside his head. "Charlie-"

"Relax, would you? Not that we can't get more, but I would like to use our funds sparingly. We can save money by getting one room when we hit towns like this. We'll even take turns sleeping on the floor."

He reached up to rub at his jaw, wincing slightly as he went over the spot Miles had punched him a few days ago. That made him sober up and he nodded. He squared his shoulders and inhaled. "How thoughtful. I suppose I'll be sleeping on the floor first."

"If you insist," she said and moved to open the door.

The bar was crowded enough that they were able to slip their way through the people unnoticed. The one thing they both liked being so far away from the East Coast was that Monroe wasn't as easily recognized. They managed to find a table towards the opposite side of the entrance and settled in with their first round without any hitch. Charlie's eyes scanned the room incessantly, looking for anyone the least bit familiar, stopping as she saw Monroe from the corner of her eye across from her.

"It's only been three days," she reminded him, pulling herself closer to the table so he could hear her better.

"I know that," he said as he stared at his glass while he twirled it with one hand.

"We'll find him."

His gaze lifted to meet hers. "What makes you so sure?"

"I find people," she stated. "It's what I do."

"Charlie-"

She rolled her eyes; she was really getting tired of him saying her name that way, half condescending, half exasperated. "I found you didn't I?"

He snorted and leaned brought the glass to his lips, downing the glass in one large gulp. "I'll give you that," he said, setting the glass back on the table. He stared at her, their eyes locking. This was one of those moments where they usually got into trouble as they had conversations just by staring at one another. Before anything happened, her gaze slid away from his and her body tensed as she saw something behind him.

"Speaking of finding you," she said, a small smirk on her face as she leaned in even closer to Monroe. She saw the way his throat moved as he swallowed from her nearness.

"What is it?"

"Adam."

"Who?"

"The Bounty Hunter from New Vegas," she said and casually looked away, positioning herself directly between Adam's line of vision and Monroe, as Adam squinted in their direction.

Monroe's eyes widened as he remembered. "You have a good memory for faces."

"When it comes to people who try to take my targets, yeah."

He frowned and shook his head slightly. "Matheson's and their grudges," he mumbled, thinking of Miles. "I guess Porter's too," he added, thinking of Rachel. He felt his lips curve into the ghost of a smile as he thought of how much like both of them Charlie was. The smile vanished as Charlie moved quickly, getting out of her chair to get closer to him. She swung one leg over him and leaned in as she straddled him. "What _the fuck _are you doing?" he asked, trying hard not to shove her away.

"Go with it," she whispered against his ear. "He keeps looking over here like he remembers us." She placed her hands on his face and tipped it up, moving hers closer to his so that it looked like they were kissing. Instead, her lips were hovering over his and she was still able to see over him to keep an eye on Adam.

"Char-" he started, trying to think of anything but the way she felt on top of him.

"It worked," she said, smirking ever so slightly as he failed to keep up the facade that he hated the position they were in. She continued to watch for a moment as Adam turned their back on them and then looked down at Monroe. She had only planned to pretend, but the memory of their kiss at the church came rushing forth and the urge to repeat that mistake took over.

She smiled as she closed the very small gap between their lips and kissed him. His hands went to her hips to keep her in place as her fingers gripped the sides of his face, angling it up as her tongue swept across his lips, begging for entrance. His lips parted and she pushed on to explore every inch of his mouth. Her boldness made him harden and she rolled her hips automatically, showing him just how into this she was. His fingers dug into her hips in a way that she was sure she would have bruises in the morning.

Just as Monroe fought the urge to take her right then and there, not caring who was around to see it, someone bumped into their chair. "Get a room," the man grunted in disgust as he passed.

Charlie pulled her face away from Monroe's, but not very far, her eyes looking over him again. "Let's," she breathed, sliding off his lap and taking him by the hand.

Dumbstruck, Monroe followed her lead through the crowd, not letting go of her hand even after they had left the bar. She led him through the town, but Monroe didn't realize that her determination was that of a hunter stalking its prey, not driven by lust. Not until she let go of his hand in favor of using her fist to take someone down.

The man hit the dirt face first with a thud. He scrambled to turn on his back in the hope of defending himself, but stopped moving at the sight of Charlie and Monroe standing over him. "I knew it was you!" he hissed at them.

Monroe stared at him and then at Charlie, still lost in a lust filled haze. "Adam," Charlie greeted as she leaned down and helped him to his feet. Once upright, she slammed him up against the nearest building, her knife resting against his gut. "Nice to see you again."

"What the hell is he still doing alive?" Adam asked.

"That's not important right now," Charlie said, her words cutting Monroe deep, snapping him back to reality.

"Are you kidding me? He was a big payday for me and I let him go-"

"You didn't _let _me have him," she corrected. "He almost escaped and I caught him. I'm the one that got _him_ to spare _you_."

"You said you were going to kill him."

"That's still the plan," Charlie returned, half serious, half joking.

"Hey!" Monroe snapped as he moved closer so that he could look Charlie in the eye. Not wanting to give Adam any moments of weakness, she kept her eyes on him and Monroe had to squash the fact that that impressed him. "No one is killing anyone."

"Speak for yourself," Adam spat.

"He's right," Charlie said in favor of Monroe, returning her knife to its sheath and taking a step back to give Adam some room. Only then did she dare glance at the former leader for a second. "We just have a few questions for you that you will answer honestly and then we're going to go our separate ways and pretend this never happened."

"What's in it for me?"

"Nothing," Monroe replied at the same time Charlie said, "Name your price." He looked at her wildly to which she shrugged and stared at Adam, waiting for an answer.

"It's that simple?" he asked, looking between the two of them. "I just answer some questions and I get whatever I want?"

"Within reason," Charlie said. "I don't have the money you would have gotten for turning him in, but I'll try my best to give you what you want."

"What's to say you won't agree and then kill me after?"

Monroe smirked as he answered, "Nothing."

Adam looked at Monroe with hate in his eyes and then back to Charlie. "Fine. I'll do it because you spared my life. My price is diamonds."

"Done," Charlie replied faster than Monroe could dispute, earning a hard glare from him. "Are you still working with the Patriots?"

"Yes," he answered. "Technically, anyway. I'm still under contract, but the last time I spoke to the guy giving the orders, he seemed a little occupied doing something else. I'm in between contracts at the moment."

"Was one of your targets ever Tom Neville?"

Adam snorted. "Of course. He was target number three after you and Miles," he replied, nodding towards Monroe. He smiled proudly at Charlie. "You were on their list too, but only recently did you jump into the top ten."

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes and Monroe smirked as he waited for he to lash out. He was slightly disappointed when she didn't make a move. "Have you seen him recently?"

To the unlikely duo's surprise, Adam nodded. "He was on his way out when I came into town the day before last."

"Was he alone?" Monroe asked, desperate for the answer to be no.

Charlie saw his eyes fill with hope as Adam shook his head. "No, he came into town with a travel companion, but he left with a few more."

"Was his companion a man about my age, light brown skin, and curly black hair?"

Adam nodded and Monroe took a step forward despite himself. "Did they happen to say where they were going?"

He rolled his eyes and took a step away from Monroe. "Are you kidding? None of them could shut up about their destination. They sounded like a broken record; like it was the only thing they could say. Not Neville's companion, but the people he met here."

"Where?"

"Bradbury, Idaho."

Charlie and Monroe exchanged glances and she shrugged. "Never heard of it," she mumbled.

"Little town that never grew out of the old west stage. It's about fifty miles south of Boise," Adam answered. "I passed it through it once or twice when I was young."

"Anything else you can tell us about them?" Charlie asked.

He looked thoughtful for a second and then shook his head. "No, that was it," he said and put his hands up in surrender. "I swear."

"I believe you," Charlie said lightly and reached into her back pocket to take out a bag of diamonds that she had brought with her to pay for their drinks. She grabbed Adam's hand and held it palm up while she dumped some jewels into it. "Thank you."

"That's a lot," he mused.

"Take them and go before I decide to kill you and take them back," Monroe said, taking a step forward.

Adam didn't even hesitate to heed Monroe's threat. He disappeared into the lightly crowded streets, leaving Monroe and Charlie alone. "See, told you we'd find something," she said, returning the bag to her pocket.

No sooner had her hands settled down at her sides did she find herself sandwiched between the building and Monroe. One of his hands rested on her waist, the other sinking into her hair to tilt her face towards his. His face was dangerously close to hers and he was staring at her with a mix of lust and rage. "I don't know what the hell that was back in the bar, but don't ever use me like that again."

She fueled his rage by not trembling and having the audacity to smirk up at him. Her arms rose until her hands were lying flat on his chest. "If I remember correctly, you didn't seem to mind," she stated as her fingers slowly curled around the material of his shirt; whether she was going to push him away or pull him close, she didn't know.

"I _do_ mind, Charlie. It's very messed up and all sorts of wrong. It has to stop."

She swallowed thickly and tried to keep herself in check. "Then stop," she challenged. "If it's so wrong, why do you keep giving in? The line's already been crossed, Bass, so stop feeling sick every time you get a hard on."

Bass.

She'd called him Bass.

There was something strange and hot about it; hot enough to take the rest of what he planned to say to her and erase it from his mind. He stared down at her, knowing that she was waiting for him to close the gap between them and capture her lips. She was begging him with her eyes and the way her tongue darted out ever so slightly to wet her lips, but he was able to regain whatever scraps of morals he had left and pulled himself away from her.

"I mean it, Charlie. This has to stop. Whatever is going on between us has to end."

Charlie stared at him for the longest time as she battled with relief and disappointment at his declaration, but determined not to let either of them show. After a moment of collecting herself, she pushed away from the wall. "Consider it over," she said as she strolled past him. Monroe's hands balled into fists at his sides as he watched her walk away. Once she disappeared from sight, he ground his teeth and made his way back to the bar, suddenly in desperate need of a drink.


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n: anyone else watch Once Upon A Time? If so, how happy(ish) were you to see "Rachel/Neville" in the same room? Oh nostalgia...**

**p.s...yes, a filler, but ch 7 is pure Charloe goodness!**

SIX

It had been five days since she had seen her daughter, two since Aaron brought the jar of dying Nano to her. Rachel could count the hours of sleep she had in those last five days with all of her fingers. Her constant worry about her daughter coupled with round the clock work on fixing the bugs prevented her from even wanting to rest. It didn't help that Blanchard kept calling Miles away from her to help them search for Davis; a search that proving to be useless. Rachel had grown accustomed to Miles' presence in order to sleep peacefully. Instead of worrying about her lover and her daughter, Rachel threw herself into figuring out how to save the things she thought she wanted dead.

As she poked and prodded at one of the bugs with a variety of tools, trying her best to understand what was wrong and fix it, she buried the images of her daughter and Sebastian Monroe alone on the road. An image she could have gone without surfaced and it cracked her concentration, allowing the sharp point of the tool to slip and break her skin. She returned the bug to the jar with the others and went to the drawer by the sink for a strip of cloth and some water to clean her wound.

"Rachel?" came Miles' voice as he entered their latest place of residence.

"Miles," she greeted, trying her best to scrounge up a smile.

"I thought you promised me you'd sleep."

"I can't," she said as he reached for her hand and the cloth.

As he tied it to keep any more of her blood from spilling, he sighed. "Worrying this much is only going to make you sick."

"It's not just Charlie that I'm worried about," she said as she looked at the jar on the table. The glow from the Nano was even dimmer than it had been a few hours ago. "They're dying and I don't have much time. I have to fix them."

"No you don't, Rachel."

"You heard what Aaron said. Priscilla was possessed by the majority of the Nano that wants to end humanity and take over for themselves. They think that's what they were created to do in their search for perfection, but the Nano that appeared to them yesterday said they didn't want that. There is a schism within the Nano, Miles. If I can fix these we can find others and it will help us stop the rest."

Had he not been aware of the Nano since the beginning, he would have thought Rachel was a sleep deprived lunatic. He reached out and took her non-injured hand, squeezing it for comfort. "Rachel-"

"They said there was a key, a chosen one. If I can fix them enough for them to tell us at least that much we'll have a significant advantage."

"We have an advantage," he insisted. "Aaron said Maggie had told them about a place called Bradbury, Idaho. It was significant enough for them to tell him that part, it's significant enough to check out."

Rachel pulled her hand from his and went back to the jar. "I have to try, Miles. They came to us for help and until they die, I won't stop. It's either that or lie awake wondering what the hell Bass is doing with my daughter." She stopped as he gave her that tight lipped stare he always did when she brought up that topic. "I'm ready to go to Idaho, but I'm not going without you."

"Just say the word and we'll go."

Rachel laughed. "You'd leave Blanchard and the war against the Patriots?"

"They're both pretty deadly, but Blanchard has a vast army behind him. He won't need me for much longer. He'll be just fine going after the Patriots without me. We're the ones that know about the Nano and how powerful it can be. If leaving here to stop the little bastards before they team up with the big bastards, I'm completely on board."

"I-"

"Please come upstairs and sleep, Rachel. We can talk about this later after you've rested. Aaron and Priscilla should be included in this discussion, don't you think?"

Rachel sighed and nodded, letting Miles pull her close. As his arms tightened around her, she found it hard to keep her arms open. For the first time in nearly a week she felt the need for sleep like no other. As her eyes began to close, the light of the fireflies winked out. A tear escaped from the corner of her eyes, but she didn't say anything as Miles led her upstairs. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

* * *

They had ridden hard for the better part of three days. The fourth day they decide to take it easy as to not strain the horses. They had decided this during a five minute conversation, the longest one they had had since she walked away from him in Odessa. They looked at each other even less.

As usual, Charlie was up before him. The first thing she noticed was the change in the air and the dark sky. It was still early, but even by now the first rays of light would be casting a golden glow on everything. Charlie inhaled deeply as she stared up at the clouds from her position on her back. There was definitely a storm coming. She sighed and pushed herself to her feet. From the looks of things it was going to be one hell of a storm and it was going to come soon. They would need to find shelter.

She moved away from their camp to relieve her bladder and came back with every intention of waking Monroe up. Instead, she decided it wouldn't hurt to let him sleep. She decided to pull out the bottle containing the firefly. It had been almost four days now and the thing was still alive. Every time she pulled it out, Charlie noticed it looked better and better. She gently tipped the bottle upside down until the tiny little bug landed in her open palm. She set the bottle down and brought her hand closer to her face. It's glow became brighter and it even flapped its wings, something it hadn't done before she put it in the jar.

That brought a smile on her face.

One that quickly vanished at the reprimanding tone of Monroe's voice.

"You shouldn't touch that thing."

Charlie lifted her eyes to stare at him, frowning as the bug stopped moving its wings and landed in her palm again. She was just glad to see that the glow remained healthy. "Good thing it's not up to you," she muttered as she gently returned the bug to the bottle. As weird as it might be, she didn't want to stress it out too much. If it was truly trying to heal, the last thing she needed was to accidently squish or drop the thing.

He wisely didn't comment as he turned his face up towards the sky. "Damn it. The last thing we need is a storm."

"We'll need to find shelter," she said and then saw the concern flicker over his face. "I can still track through the storm. We can keep going until it gets really bad and then continue when it lessons."

"I'd rather not risk it," he said quietly. As much as he would love to push through whatever kind of weather, it truly wasn't worth the risk of getting hurt in the storm. "We're tracking leads now, not actual tracks." He knew she knew that, but it felt good to say it out loud as if he needed to remind himself.

She nodded and returned the bottle to her bag and began getting her stuff onto her horse. "Should we go?"

"We can stay here for a little while longer. I think I saw a stream not too far away. I could use a little freshening up. It won't take too long. There's a small town up ahead; I'm sure we can take shelter there before the storm hits. You can do some hunting and we can eat before we go."

Charlie nodded absently as she slowed her movements. She could use some freshening up too, but there was no way in hell she was going to do that too. She would just take advantage of the storm later. She turned towards the bush where she had her bow and quiver stowed away. "I'll see what I can get," she said and turned her back on him as she went in search for breakfast.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon when Charlie and Monroe strolled up to the town limits of Brownfield, Texas. It had definitely been a small town pre-blackout. Now it looked like almost completely abandoned. Charlie couldn't help but think about a ghost town her parents had taken her too when she was young. By the time they reached the first building the rain had begun to fall. They both kept a keen eye out for any signs of trouble, but as the rain picked up, they turned their attention towards seeking shelter.

Luckily they were able to find a place that would store the horses and themselves without crumbling around them while they slept. Their shelter had once been a small barn. There were three stalls and just enough room to store a few bales of hay, equipment, and have one horse at a time out. They exterior had clearly seen better days, but everything was intact and provided they weren't hit with a tornado, they would be fine.

Monroe put the horses in the stalls one by one as Charlie checked the perimeter and the small storage closet for anything of use. Turning up empty handed, she settled for moving debris from a section on the floor so they could sleep without rolling over on something they shouldn't. By the time they stopped moving about and sat down, the storm was in full swing. Charlie's head rose towards the ceiling at the first clap of thunder.

"Don't tell me storms scare you," Monroe said, breaking the silence between them.

She shook her head as her back rested against the empty stall behind her. "I've always liked storms. Granted, not when I'm caught in them like this, but it's a good reminder as to how powerful a force nature can be."

"I don't think anyone needs a reminder on the power of nature."

She shrugged and dared to look at him. He held her gaze evenly and both of them seemed to relax. For them, not staring at each other was more awkward. However, it became clear very fast that neither of them knew what to say. Charlie decided to take this time to relax and closed her eyes, concentrating on the storm raging outside rather than the fact that she could feel Monroe's eyes as he continued to stare at her. Her breathing became deep and more even and soon even the weight of his gaze didn't affect her.

Monroe wanted to stare at something else, but the only thing worth looking at was Charlie. Even though he had made up his mind and deemed her off limits, he still couldn't resist looking at her. He watched her as she slipped down to lay on her side, indicating that she had fallen asleep. After awhile, even though his gaze was trained on her, he was lost in his own little world. Soon he gave up and laid down next to her, the only spot on the floor that would leave him sore in the morning.

As he closed his eyes he remembered the last time he had been that close to her, the morning after their fight in Odessa.

_Monroe had had one too many drinks after Charlie declared that whatever it was between them was over. Not that he had blamed her as he was the one that kept saying no. By the time one of the barkeeps told him to leave he could barely recall where the room was. He didn't remember Charlie telling him, but somehow he found it. He didn't even register that the door had been unlocked until later the next day. He closed it as quietly as he could and locked it behind him before taking off his boots. He looked at the room, deciding what part of the floor looked most inviting, but he couldn't keep his eyes from the bed and Charlie._

_Knowing it was bad, he made his way to it and sprawled out on the mattress. He was lying on his back, one arm tucked under his head, the other down at his side. He closed his eyes as the room began to spin and when he opened them again it was to see the sunlight filter through the drapes that had clearly seen better days. He was still in mostly the same position, but there was something different. It didn't take long for him to realize the difference was Charlie. She was no longer on the other side of the mattress, but lying with her back against his side. The arm at his side was now stretched out and his bicep had turned into her pillow, one of her delicate hands on his forearm._

_She moved and pushed herself up. She looked at his arm and then turned so that she could see his face. She looked up and down the length of his body and silently climbed off the bed. She pulled her shoes on and grabbed her bag, tossing the keys on the edge of the bed. "Meet you at the stables," was all she said before she leaving him as she had done the previous night._

Thinking about that caused Monroe to turn his head to the side. Charlie was sleeping with her shoulder against his, her face turned his way. Aside from that morning she had woken from a nightmare, this was the only other time he had seen her vulnerable. Just another reminder of how wrong for her he was; he had caused that hard exterior she kept herself wrapped in.

Pushing those thoughts away, Monroe let his eyes close and joined her in sleep.

* * *

When he woke the next morning, Charlie had an arm around his waist, her face buried in the crook of the arm he had wrapped around her back. Her eyes were open and staring back at him, but neither of them said a word.


	7. Chapter 7

SEVEN

They didn't talk about the morning after the storm, but the comfort that it had brought them seemed to ease the tension. By the time they had followed their small leads to Clayton, New Mexico, they were back to their comfortable silences and speaking with just a glance. They still didn't talk much, but that had never been one of their strong suits anyway.

True to Wasteland fashion, Clayton was rough. There was no leader here which meant people were free to do as they pleased. Some were nice and honest, but, for the most part, were hard to find. It was a miracle the anyone spoke to the dangerous looking outsiders, but by the end of the day they had secured a lead.

"Farmington isn't that far away," Charlie said as they walked through the town. "We could ride through the night and be there by early to mid afternoon tomorrow. Should be enough time to catch up."

Monroe shook his head, surprising her. "I'd rather not push too much. We rode hard to get here in the time that we did. We'll leave at first light."

Charlie nodded and gestured to the inn off to their right. "One room or two?"

"One," he replied and their eyes met. Charlie knew his answer was due to the fact that this town was sketchy. They were new in town; easy targets. If word got out that she was alone for the night, she could almost guarantee that the night would end badly.

"One it is," she said and went to secure it for them while Monroe waited outside.

He peered out at the people that wandered the town as he waited. Most of them had seen and done things that gave them the hard looks they sported. This was why he hated the Wasteland. There had never been much here to begin with, but the hostility that ran through the entire empire was too much. Even though Monroe had been feared, there had never been fear of one's neighbors while living in his Republic. He sighed heavily as he thought of the rubble that was once Philly, trying hard to squash the familiar anger that came with the memories.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Charlie as she stepped outside. She beckoned him to follow her and then led them to their room towards the back. The moment they walked in, Charlie was pleased to discover that only were there two beds, but a tub with a well tap connected. Her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning and Monroe had to force himself to look away.

"Who would have thought the Wasteland would have such a luxury," she said as she placed her things down on one of the beds.

"There's a bar a few buildings back. I'll give you some privacy." He placed his stuff on the other bed.

"Thanks."

"Just don't empty the well," he teased, somewhat serious.

She grinned at him. "No promises."

Monroe rubbed his jaw as he watched her slip into the bathroom. Once the door closed, he turned and decided he definitely needed to go. Being this close to a naked Charlie was asking for trouble. With that, he slipped out of the room and locked the door behind him. He wasted no time in turning and heading for the bar not far from the inn. He didn't know if Charlie was the kind of girl that would lounge in the water until she couldn't stand it or if she would only use what water she needed. He could picture her lying in the tub, the water barely covering-

His thoughts were interrupted as someone bumped into him. "Watch it!" the guy hissed as he continued walking.

Monroe ground his teeth and shook his head. There was no need to go down that road. After all, he had been the one to draw the line and put an end to things before they got too far. He sighed with relief as he sat on a stool at the bar. He was in desperate need of a drink. _That's not the only thing I'm desperate for_, he thought before he could help himself.

As if the universe had heard him, a woman with short dark hair and full round hips approached him, a wide inviting smile on her face. "You must be new in town."

"How'd you guess?"

"Nothing goes unnoticed here," she said and ordered a drink of her own. "How long are you in town for?"

"Only for the night."

"Shame," she replied, her eyes raking over his body.

"How so?" he asked, smiling at her over the rim of his glass. It had been a very long time since someone had been this forward with him.

"That means I only get one night with you," she said, downing her shot with ease. She moved to stand between his knees, her hands sliding slowly up his thighs. "Guess we better start soon," she added, her voice low with desire.

He smiled and put his glass down before placing his hands on her shoulders and pushing her back. "While I appreciate the offer, I'm going to decline."

One of her brows rose as she looked down at his lap and then back up at his face. "Well, if you change your mind, my name's Cara," she said and sauntered away.

Monroe shut his eyes for a moment and then signaled for the bartender. "A double please," he ordered. He definitely needed alcohol if he was going to make it through the night.

* * *

Charlie could have fallen asleep in the bathtub, but she knew Monroe had wanted to use it too. After spending what felt like eternity getting clean, she peeked around the door to make sure the coast was clear before going through her bag for a change of clothes. Before emptying the tub she washed the clothes she had changed out of and draped them over what was left of the sink. She secured her sword around her waist, pulled on her jacket, and decided to head out and meet Monroe for a drink.

He had said there was a bar a few buildings back, but as it turned out, this town was full of bars. She couldn't say it surprised her that much; from the stories she had heard there wasn't much else to do in the Wasteland. Hell, after the blackout, there wasn't much else to do anyway. It was after the fifth one Charlie realized if she was going to find Monroe she would have to go inside and take a peek around so she started with the one closest to her.

There was a decent crowd inside the establishment and they all seemed to be in good spirits. It was the atmosphere that immediately let Charlie know Monroe was not there. He might have been fun back in the day, but he would be somewhere quieter. After one last quick scan, Charlie turned to leave, but her path was blocked by a man not that much taller or older than she was.

"You can't leave," he said, a smirk on his lips.

Charlie bit back the panic as she began to feel the helplessness she had felt the last time she had been cornered in a bar. Her hands balled into fists and she knew she was ready to strike. Apparently he sensed it too and stepped back, holding his hands up.

"No, no, no," he said. "It was supposed to- Damn it, that was really aggressive and creepy, I'm sorry." Charlie felt herself relax as she stared at him. He seemed to come undone just by her intense gaze. "I was going to say you can't leave before I get the chance to buy you a drink."

"What makes you think I'd let you?" she asked.

"Well I wouldn't really blame you if you didn't now," he said and ran a hand through his hair at the awkwardness. "Gosh, I'm really sorry."

There was something about his demeanor that made Charlie believe him. Something about his light green eyes and golden hair coupled with soft features and a kind smile made her smile back. "Well as an apology you can buy me a drink," she said.

"Pick your poison."

"Whatever you choose," she said and followed him to the bar where he ordered them a round.

They moved through the crowd until they found a space that gave them room to breathe. "I'm Trick."

"Charlie."

"What problems are you running from that brought you to this little slice of heaven?" he asked, his eyes full of humor.

"I'm helping a friend track someone down."

"A tracker, huh? That's a pretty nifty skill." He took a drink and watched as she did the same. "One of many I presume."

Killer. Thief. Hunter. Just to name a few. Instead of saying any of those at the risk of scaring him away, Charlie nodded. "You have no idea."

"Is that so?" he returned, his eyes raking up and down her body.

Charlie took another drink and a deep breath soon after the liquor had burned its way down her throat. Trick was cute and trying hard to impress her. She had been frustrated since her first encounter with Monroe and now that he had closed the door on that route, she felt free to take Trick up on the offer that she knew was coming soon. She sighed as she forced those feelings away like she had done when she hooked up with Connor and downed the rest of her drink. Monroe be damned; he just because he wasn't going to make a move didn't mean she couldn't find satisfaction from someone else.

"You wanna get out of here?" she asked, setting her glass on the table beside them.

His eyes widened at her boldness. "Um, yeah. Sure."

Charlie smiled as he tried to play it cool and took him by the hand after he set his glass on the table next to hers. She led him through the crowd and through the nearly empty streets until they reached a place that was secluded enough for her to do what she wanted. Once they were out of sight she turned and pushed him back against the wall, her front pressing against his. She reached up and brought his lips down to hers. His hands fell to her hips to hold her close as he explored her mouth.

Her hands slid down his chest until they stopped at the waistband of his jeans. As she began to undo the snap, he reached down and pushed her hands away. He pulled back enough to smirk at her. His fingers moved to her jeans to mimic the actions as he said, "Ladies first."

She grinned and widened her stance as he undid her pants enough to allow him to slip his hand behind the material. She hissed and as his index finger slid between her folds, touching her where she craved attention most. Her head tipped up and his lips sought her neck without missing a beat. She wasn't sure if he was skilled enough to have brought her closer so fast or if she was just that worked up, but Charlie never got to experience the release she sought as Trick was yanked away by the back of his shirt.

Charlie bit her lip and could only move in slow motion as she refastened her pants. Through her haze she saw Monroe throw a punch at Trick. "Jesus, Charlie. Every time I turn around you're fucking someone else," Monroe growled.

Charlie gave him a lazy smile. She wasn't sure if she wanted to lash out with her fists or her words. Monroe was used to getting punched as was evident by the scars and bruises that marred his body so Charlie went with the second option. "Well _you_ weren't going to. Girls have needs too."

She saw the fury in his eyes as he stared at her. "She didn't tell me she was with anyone!" Trick interjected, one hand wiping away the blood that flowed from his nose.

"We're not together," they replied in unison.

Monroe glared at Charlie for a moment before turning on Trick again. He grabbed him by the shirt and stared him right in the eye. "You have two seconds to get out of my face and so help me... If I see you anywhere near her ever again, you won't live to see another day," he threatened and let go.

Trick didn't think twice before scrambling away.

Monroe kept his body turned away from Charlie as she stood there, silently fuming. She wanted to lash out again, say something to make him hurt, but something in his stance made her hesitate. She had seen him angry, hellbent on revenge and out for blood, but his was pure anger. She could see the way his muscles bunched under his clothes and in his exposed skin. So instead of saying anything, she did nothing but watch as he simply walked away without saying a word.

* * *

The amount of money Monroe would have had to burn on alcohol to erase what he had just witnessed was more than he had in his possession. He recalled how he had come to be in that awful situation; by drinking until he started to consider Cara's offer, meaning it was time to get out of that bar and go to sleep. He had gone to the inn hoping that Charlie was done with her bath and decent. Instead, he was greeted by an empty room. After a moment of swearing at her recklessness, Monroe had set out to find her.

Now he was on his way back to the room at the inn wishing he had never gone back out in the first place. He was debating on whether or not he should get his things and leave Charlie here on her own when he felt himself being shoved into a building.

"What the hell was that?" came Charlie's voice from behind him.

"You're welcome."

"Excuse me?" Her blue eyes were wild as he turned to look at her.

"I saved you from making a big mistake."

She snorted. "You've saved me a few times; that is _not _what you were doing back there."

Their emotions were feeding off one another's, leading them down a dark path. "We don't have time for this kind of thing."

"If someone had approached you I'm sure it would have been okay," she said, her voice dangerously low.

"Charlie-"

She shook her head and cut him off as she stepped forward. "So let me get this straight. You decided you can't have me and that means no one else can, but you are free to bang whoever you want?"

"No, I-"

"You know what?" she asked rhetorically, cutting him off again. "I don't give a shit what you do. So please do us both a favor and get over yourself. I told you we would figure our feelings out on the road and you've decided for us already, but that means you gave up any right to keep me from being with someone else. As soon as we find Connor I'm going back to my mom and Miles," she said and made her way towards their room.

He was hot on her heels and the moment the door closed, he slammed up against it. "I had the chance to fuck somebody else, but I didn't take it because no matter how much I want to stick to my guns and keep my hands off of you, Charlie, I can't. I don't want to think of anyone's hands on you, anyone else's mouth on your skin..." he shook his head. "God help me, I want you."

"Good," she breathed and reached up in order to bring his lips down to hers.

She gripped his face tightly as to not let him pull away ever again. His hands were on her hips, his fingers digging in in order to pull her close. Their kiss was frantic and raw, fueled by their lust for one another and their anger. The tension and frustration they had caused each other since they had reunited in New Vegas also made an appearance, making them both ready to explode simply from kissing. His mouth crushed hers as they explored each other. Their tongues battled for control, neither of them wanting to give up to the other.

Needing air, Monroe broke their kiss first by simply moving his lips to her jaw. He nipped and suckled her skin as he made his way down the column of her throat. She tipped her head to the side and let out a breathy moan as her fingers wove their way through his hair. He forced his fingers to let go of her hips so that they could slither up her sides. They curled around her jacket and tugged until it slid down her shoulders. He let it fall to the floor beside them and then groaned as let her right hand glide down to rub him through the material of his jeans.

Charlie whined and clutched at the material of his shirt when he pulled away from her. He captured her lips as he brought them away from the door. On their way to the bed, they undressed each other. Her shirt was ripped away and they tripped over his jeans as he kicked them off, but nothing broke the spell of lust they found themselves under.

They were completely naked by the time the back's of Charlie's knees hit the bed he had claimed earlier. He had his arms locked around her as hers were looped under his, her hands on his shoulder blades. Their lips were locked, still exploring and battling. His erection pressed against her stomach and Charlie moaned as his fingers tugged at her hair, angling her to deepen the kiss. He pushed forward as if to place her on the bed, but Charlie resisted and smirked into their kiss.

Monroe gasped with surprise as she turned them around and pushed him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking up at her. His eyes raked over her and he took in the sight of her. There wasn't much light in the room, but the small cracks in the walls here and there allowed him to see how beautiful she was. His eyes fluttered as she moved forward, positioning herself so that she was straddling his waist. Her left hand rested on his shoulder while her right went to cup his face. She brought her lips hungrily over his and rocked her hips, indicating she was more than ready.

Monroe reached between them with his left hand, his right digging into her hip to keep her in place. He ran his finger through her folds, enjoying the way she hissed into their kids. She was soaking wet and more than ready for him. As he dipped his middle finger into her body he groaned at how tight she was. His cock twitched with anticipation. His thumb tweaked her clit and his eyes shut for a second as her walls clenched at his finger, sucking him in deeper.

"I want you inside me," she whispered against his lips.

That was all he needed.

Monroe withdrew his left hand from her heat in favor of wrapping his hand around his cock. Without any forewarning, he pushed his hips up and sank deep inside her. They moaned in unison. His hand went to the small of her back and then began rocking back and forth. Her hand moved from his cheek to sink into his hair. She grabbed some of it and forced his head back, her lips immediately going to his neck.

"Fuck!" he panted as he continued to thrust in and out of her. His hand went back to where their bodies were joined and used his thumb to rub her clit.

She shuddered around him and he could feel her short breaths against his neck as she came for the first time. He used her momentary stillness to switch positions. By the time Charlie was down from her high she was on her back with Monroe's weight pressing pleasantly down on her. Her knees were bent and her thighs were cradling his body as he drove into her again. Her hands were resting on his shoulders, his thrusts picking up speed. Charlie met his pace without missing a beat.

She began to pout when he pulled back to sit on his knees. He pulled her down and lifted her legs so that her knees bent over his shoulders. From that angle he was able to slam into her with incredible force, making sure that he buried himself completely before repeating the action. Her head ground against the blankets beneath her, her hands fisting them as well. They stared at each other like they always did, neither one of them daring to close their eyes or look away. It made the intensity of their tryst burn brightly.

"_Bass_!" she cried as she felt herself launch into her second orgasm. Her eyes were still open and he could see her come undone as he kept thrusting away.

"Charlie," he breathed as he came mid thrust. Her walls were milking him, drawing every bit of his seed into her. He gave a few more thrusts and then unhooked her legs from his shoulders. He pulled out of her and then moved to lay beside her. They both said nothing as they stared up at the ceiling, panting hard to catch their breath.

Monroe blinked several times as he fought the need to fall asleep right then and there. The anger and the rough sex had taken its toll on his body. As he turned his head to look at Charlie, he could tell from her hooded gaze that she was feeling the same way.

They didn't smile or say anything as their eyes met. They knew what had happened and that it would affect them for the rest of their future, but at this moment neither of them wanted to talk about it. Monroe stretched out his right arm and after Charlie lifted her head, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to pull her close. She laid his head in the crook of his arm and turned her body towards his. His fingers brushed over her side idly as she looped an arm around his waist. They stayed that way as they drifted off into much needed sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

EIGHT

Blood.

The ground was painted with it.

Pain.

It was all Charlie could think about as she adjusted her position to fire her gun.

The gun gave a click that made Charlie's heart sink into her stomach. She was out of bullets and it was clear that her attackers were far from it. "Shit," she muttered and tried not to cry out as she sat back against the remains of a wall. She looked around for anything of use, but stopped at the sight of an unconscious Monroe. Panic began to take over as she watched the blood seep from the wound on his upper thigh.

Charlie saw something from the corner of her eye and tried to get up. She cried out in pain despite herself. She gulped down oxygen as she heard footsteps getting closer and closer. She knew everything would be over in a few moments, but she knew she wouldn't go down without a fight. She reached for her sword and prepared herself for whatever came, but as her would-be attacker turned the corner, a single gunshot rang out and he fell forward.

Charlie trembled as she looked up and saw someone move towards her. This was it. She clutched the handle on her sword. He stopped when he saw her and Charlie's eyes welled up with tears of recognition and relief as she saw who it was that approached.

**Twelve hours ago**

Charlie sat on the bed that she had claimed the night before, but had never used. Monroe was still asleep on the other bed. He was sprawled out on his stomach, his right leg and arm draped over the side. He hadn't crawled under the covers and she hadn't covered him up meaning his bare ass was in full view. Charlie tried her best to ignore it as she finished off the breakfast she had brought back for both of them.

She had been awake for at least an hour. After disentangling her body from his, surprisingly without waking him, Charlie had gone to the bathroom to freshen up. When she had emerged to pull on some clothes, she noticed Monroe had taken on a new position of hugging the bed. She had resisted the urge to crawl back into bed with him and instead went in search of food. He had still been in that position when she'd returned and was still there now that she had eaten.

Finished, she put the tray on the table between the bed and grabbed the bag and rummaged around for the container with the Nano in it. As she pulled it out, her eyes widened in shock. There were _two_ bugs inside the bottle. They both appeared to be glowing brightly and their energy seemed to vibrate the bottle, something she could feel in her fingertips. She opened the bottle and the Nano ascended. They buzzed around her playfully and Charlie couldn't help but smile as they rested on her arm.

She jumped at the sound of a loud crash from the room they shared a wall with. She could tell Monroe had woken with a start and turned her eyes towards him. She watched as he rolled onto his back. She couldn't help but grin as she watched the moment Monroe realized he was naked and exposed. Her gaze raked over his body, taking in the sight of his tight muscles and toned skin. Her eyes rested on his cock and she shivered as she remembered the way it felt buried deep in her body. Blushing, she turned away, forcing her attention back to the Nano on her arm.

From the corner of her eye she could see him reach for the pillow behind him and brought it down to cover his lower half. "There's breakfast on the night stand," Charlie said, keep her eyes averted.

"Thanks," he replied gruffly, his voice still heavy with sleep.

He slid off the bed and awkwardly sought out his clothes. After stepping into his jeans and fastening them, he took in the sight of her. She was sitting on the other bed, indian style. There was an empty bottle propped up on her bag and two Nano bugs on her arm. She was fully dressed and had already eaten as was evident by the half empty tray on the nightstand. He felt strange knowing that she had done all of this without him noticing until now.

"You're welcome," she replied as he moved to sit on his bed, the side that was closest to her. She lifted her arm as to better inspect the bugs, trying hard not to look at him as he dug into the food. She sighed and returned the bugs to the bottle. She wanted to know exactly how the second one had gotten there, but that was something she would have to worry about later. "We should get going."

Monroe nodded and watched as she placed the bottle carefully back into her bag. He placed the now empty tray on the nightstand. They both got to their feet at the same time and Charlie turned to move, but he stopped her by placing a hand around her bicep. She didn't move a muscle, but swallowed thickly from being this near to him, especially when she was very aware of his bare chest. "Are you okay?" he asked her, his voice low.

She turned her head to look at him, her gaze devoid of emotions. Monroe knew it was her way of throwing up those mental walls of hers. Better she not show any emotion than let the world know what she was thinking. It was driving him nuts. "That wasn't my first time, Monroe," she replied, her voice equally as low.

Monroe's jaw ticked at the sound of his name. She had gone back to using his last name. He recalled her voice when she had called him Bass during their tryst the night before and he realized he liked that much better. He shook those thoughts away and stared at her. "I know that."

She inclined her head and stepped out of his grasp. "We don't have to do the awkward morning after thing," she said as she finished gathering up her stuff. "Tensions were a little high and we both needed release."

Monroe watched her move around, disappointment taking hold of him. "Is that all that was to you?" He was a little offended at how dismissive she was being.

She stopped, her back to him, and shrugged after a moment.

"Fine," he muttered and looked around for his shirt. "Let's get out of here," he added and quickly gathered up his things.

They turned the keys back in to the lady that ran the inn and then went to the stables to get their horses. They then set out on their way to Farmington where they hoped their search would either be furthered with a new lead or end all together. They rode in silence as they always did, but this time there was a palpable tension, one that could be cut with a knife. They kept stealing glances at one another when they thought the other wasn't looking, but they knew full well when the other's gaze was upon them.

They rode until early afternoon before stopping to relieve themselves and give the horses a break. Charlie was leaning against a tree with the Nano bottle in her hand when Monroe came back from his bathroom break. He had seen the two bugs in the room in Clayton, but it had just hit him that there were _two_. "When did you get another one?" he asked.

She shook her head, her eyes transfixed on the bugs. "There was only one when I looked last. I pulled the bottle out this morning and there were two. I know they replicate, that's how they got so big in the first place, but I thought they were dying."

"Apparently not," Monroe stated.

"Apparently not," she repeated and took a deep breath before putting them away again. As she stood up, their eyes met and she gave him a tight lipped smile. "We should go."

He nodded, but didn't say anything as they mounted their horses and continued on their way.

It was almost nightfall when something shifted in the air and Monroe stopped short. Charlie knew better than to speak at that moment and she picked up on his tension. Her eyes scanned the deserted street for any signs of danger, the hair on her neck standing up to tell her that something was there, even if she couldn't see it. There were several ruins around them, indicating that this had once been a busy street, but now empty, meant perfect places to hide.

Charlie took a deep breath and the moment she began to exhale, all hell broke loose.

It happened in slow motion. Gunshots rang through the air and Charlie barely had time to duck as a bullet whizzed past her head. "Charlie!" Monroe yelled, but the warning fell on deaf ears as she her horse fall forward. She pulled her head up enough to see that her horse had been shot and if she didn't move now she was going to be pinned when they fell. As it was, she didn't have enough time to react and her leg was caught as the horse went down.

She cried out as she felt her leg twist and snap. She put her hands over her head as she heard more gunshots, this time some of them coming from Monroe as he returned fire. It didn't take long before he had sank to his knees beside her and did all he could to lift the horse off of her. Her arm went around his shoulders and he stood up, supporting her with one arm and shooting off his gun with the other. He moved as fast as he could to put himself and Charlie out of harm's way by using a crumbling wall for cover.

Just before he was able to get them to safety, he felt himself get hit and they both went tumbling. Charlie screamed as she landed on her knees, her injured leg jarring in the process. She turned to see Monroe lying on his side. There was a gash in his upper thigh that had either been from a graze or from an actual puncture, but he was too far for her to take a look at. He had hit a corner of the wall on his way down and there was blood coming from behind him. He was out cold and Charlie was trying hard not to panic.

She took a deep breath and reached for his gun, biting her lip to keep from crying out at the pain. She tried to push all of her emotions out of the way so that she could fight back and when she was ready, she raised her gun and fired, hoping for the best.

**Present**

"Connor? Is that really you?" she asked, her voice tight and raw with both fear and relief.

"Charlie?" he was in disbelief, but as he moved closer he could see it was her. He ducked as more gunfire rang out through the barely lit sky. He noticed the way her eyes fluttered and he cupped her face, shaking her lightly. "Come on, stay with me."

"Monroe, he's dying," she choked out, feeling her own need to slip into unconsciousness. The pain in her leg was too much for her to stand at the moment.

Connor glanced at the body next to her and his eyes widened at the sight of his father. "Neither one of you is dying," he said. "Not on my watch." He assessed her injuries and shook her again, forcing her gaze to lock with his. "I'm going to get the rest of these sons of bitches and then I'll be back for both of you," he promised. "Stay with me Charlie," he pleaded and disappeared from sight.

Charlie watched him go and then let her eyes close, unable to stay awake any longer. The last thing she heard was one final gunshot and then nothing but silence.


	9. Chapter 9

NINE

Everything around her seemed familiar yet so foreign that Charlie shuddered. She was in her old bedroom, the one that she had spent the majority of her adolescence in after her mother had left. All of her things were there, precisely as she remembered them. Precisely.

"Yes, we pulled this from your memories," came a hauntingly familiar voice from behind her.

Charlie turned to see her father standing in the doorway. She felt her eyes water and she began to take a step forward to hug him, but stopped herself. This wasn't real. Ben was dead; there was no way he was here. There was no way _she _was here, wherever "here" was. That left only one explanation; she was dreaming. Only it didn't have the right feel for a dream.

"It is a dream, but you are correct in your assumptions," Ben stated as he took a step towards her.

Charlie's eyes widened slightly as she connected the dots. "Nano."

He inclined his head. "You saved us in our time of need and we would like to return the favor. It is the least we can do for the Chosen One."

"What?"

His head dipped forward yet again. "Not all the Nano are bad, Charlotte. We have been in contact with the Creator and a plan is in place. We had to wait for the right time and gather enough strength in numbers to make our move. We have been waiting for the right time to approach you."

"Why am I so special?"

"Genetics," he answered as if that would be enough. When he realized she was still lost, he expanded. "Humanity is evolving, Charlotte, and your DNA is the key to making that happen. Not all of us want to end humanity, but it does need to change. We can work together and change the world."

At a loss for words, she could do nothing but stare at him. He turned as if listening to something only he could hear. "You're going to wake soon and we will be there to save you. If you act fast, you might even be able to save your friend too."

Then he was gone and her vision began to blur before fading quickly into nothing.

Charlie's eyes opened and she gasped at the blinding pain that shot up her leg and spread through her body like wild fire. She propped herself on her elbows and watched the small swarm of fireflies descend on her leg. The pain intensified and it was all she could do not to scream, pass out, or both. But suddenly, it was over and the pain vanished as if it had never been there at all. The fireflies swirled around the room for a moment as if to make sure she was alright.

"Thank you," she whispered.

The bugs, seemingly satisfied with their work, took off out the crack in the window, disappearing into the night.

Charlie swung her legs over the side of the bed and gently got to her feet. She took a few tentative steps and marveled at how good she felt. She knew her leg had been broken from when the horse fell on her. She had felt it break in more than one place during the fall, but now it didn't have so much as a scratch on it. She smiled and looked around, noticing her bags in the corner of the strange room.

While teetering in and out of consciousness, she had seen and heard some things and with the Nano having healed her she was able to recall her moments of being awake. Connor had tracked down the rest of the enemies, apparently out hunting with a few of his newly made travel companions. They had a wagon and were able to get Charlie and Monroe to this safe house. Charlie remembered him carrying her up to this room and laying her down on the bed before disappearing as Charlie passed out for the last time.

Monroe.

The memory of him surrounded by his own blood had Charlie out of her room in search for him. She took a deep breath at the sight of the five other doors in the hallway. She made her peace with the fact that she would have to disturb some people by going into each room. There was an ache in her gut as she sped across the hall to the first door, an ache that grew as she realized he might not have made it. She forced herself to be gentle as she opened the door and peered inside.

Relief washed over her as she caught sight of Monroe lying face up on a mattress in the middle of the room. The moonlight streamed in from the window, allowing her to see his chest rising and falling evenly, indicating he was sleeping. There was nothing but a sheet draped around his waist, a small pink blotch stuck out over his thigh. He looked so peaceful lying there, but if he was still bleeding, he wasn't doing well.

Charlie shut the door quietly and made her way towards the bed. She knelt by his side and gently pushed the sheet back enough to see his thigh. Someone had dressed the wound recently, but blood was already seeping through. She frowned as her fingers brushed over it.

Her touch made him stir and he woke with a start. His head turned towards her, his eyes full of confusion and surprise at the sight of her. "Charlie? What are you doing?"

"Checking your wound," she responded.

He stiffened as she moved to stand. She moved his head to the side to inspect that wound was relieved to see that it had stopped bleeding. His hair was matted with dried blood, but at least it seemed to have closed itself already. She hovered over him as she turned to check his leg again. He batted her hand away, acutely aware that he was naked.

Charlie frowned and rolled her eyes. "It's a little late to be modest now," she chided.

He ground his teeth, but didn't comment as she began removing the bandage. "What the hell happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Your horse went down and I could have sworn you broke your leg. I pried the damn thing off of you and then we went for cover. Now you're molesting me in my sleep."

She grinned despite herself. "Yes, my leg was broken and if it wasn't for Connor, we'd both be dead."

"Connor?"

She nodded. "You got hit in the leg on our way to cover and when we went down your head hit the wall and you passed out. You were bleeding out, I wasn't much good, and then my gun ran out of ammo and there was someone coming around the corner. Connor was there and killed that man before he got to us. He brought us here, wherever 'here' is."

He eyed her leg. "If it's broken, how the hell are you standing on it?"

"The Nano healed me," she replied, dropping his bloodied bandage on the ground. "They came to me while I was sleeping and thanked me for helping them when they were dying. They said something about how their survival depended on my survival. I woke to them healing me," she tilted her head as a thought occurred to her.

"Charlie-" he started as she pushed the sheet back even more, exposing the rest of his hip.

"This might hurt," she warned and let her hand hover over the bullet wound. Her fingertips began to glow green like the Nano and Monroe gasped with pain. When he thought he couldn't take it anymore, it was over. The sound of a bullet dropping to the floor filled his ears and his eyes were filled with the sight of Charlie standing there, shaking. "It worked," she mused.

Monroe moved quickly to reach for her as her knees gave out. He ended up sitting with his legs over the side of the bed and drew Charlie perpendicular over his lap. He was even more aware of his state of undress now that her ass pressed against his cock. Her jean clad legs stretched out in front of her, her bare arm pressed against his chest as her head rested against his clavicle. His arms wrapped around her protectively, his hands idly stroking her back. "How did you... What did you..." he couldn't say it aloud, it was too surreal.

"Something the Nano said, I thought I would give it a try." Her voice was low that even with the absolute silence around them, Monroe had trouble hearing her. "If it hadn't worked..."

Monroe heard what she didn't say rather than what she did. "Well it did. I guess I owe those little bastards. And you."

He felt her laughter, even if it was only for a second. "I think we've saved each other as much as we've tried to kill each other."

"Not true," he argued.

Charlie lifted her head and gave him a questioning stare.

"Personally, I have never tried to kill you nor have I ever ordered a hit on you. I do remember plenty of times where the opposite was not true."

Her lips parted to counter, but closed the moment she realized he was right, more or less. She had tried to kill him more times than she could count. "I almost killed you once. I pulled the trigger and everything."

One of his brows rose. "You did?"

"New Vegas. Do you remember when your handler told you someone had paid well to meet with you privately?" He nodded. "Well, I was the one that paid, Adam and the other Bounty Hunters got to you in the nick of time. My arrow landed in that wooden post right where the spot between your eyes would have been." She reached up to place her fingers in said spot.

He closed his eyes as her other fingers gently touched his face and then slid back, sinking into his hair. He barely registered the fact that she had turned in his arms so that she was straddling him; again. Her touch felt good, especially when she laid her forehead against his and he heard her inhale. Her left hand rose to settle on the center of his bare chest, feeling his heart beat beneath her palm. "Charlie," he whispered, his breath warming her skin.

She let her own eyes close and smiled as she felt him harden from her touch. She angled herself slightly so that she could press her lips against his. One of his hands flattened against her back while the other snuck into her hair. He cradled the back of her head to pull her closer. The kiss was tender and filled with a need for comfort; the complete opposite of their kisses the night before.

Thinking about it made Monroe cringe at the memory of his behavior and turned his head away, breaking the kiss. "We shouldn't."

She let out a sigh of frustration. "So we're back to this?" she asked, sliding off of his lap.

He grabbed her hand and stood up, letting the sheet fall away. He laced their fingers together and reached up to cup her face, turning it so that she could see him. "You weren't a means to an end, Charlie," he whispered. "It goes way beyond that."

Charlie met his gaze evenly and saw the truth behind his words. There was more that he didn't say and she heard those words too. She turned to face him, her cheek nuzzling his palm. "I know."

They were both too stubborn to say anything else, so they agreed with their eyes; they were going to take it one day at a time. Charlie closed her eyes and went with his movements as he tilted her head up. His lips closed over hers, this kiss just as tender as the last. This time, Charlie was the one to turn her head away. She stepped away from him and moved to lie down on the bed. He said nothing as he laid down next to her and gathered her in his arms, their positions the same as it had been the night before.

This time, Charlie fell asleep with a smile on her face as she heard the comforting sound of his heart beating in her ear.


	10. Chapter 10

TEN

Charlie's eyes opened before the rest of her began to stir. It took a moment for her to sort through the fog in her mind and remember the events of the night before. It came flooding back to her as she saw an arm latched around her middle. She turned her head to the side and saw Monroe beside her. He was stretched out on his stomach, his face turned towards her, arm around her. She smiled and took a deep breath. She knew she would have to get up soon, but at this very moment she felt too good to move.

She didn't get to enjoy herself too long as the door to the room opened, Connor's voice stopping short at the sight on the bed. "I hope I'm not disturbing... you..."

Charlie brought her free hand up to lay a finger over her lips. He stared at her mostly clothed figure next to his father's nude form and just gaped. Charlie waved him away and after a moment, he pulled himself together enough to go back into the hall. Charlie closed her eyes for a second as she prepared herself for _that _conversation. With a deep sigh, she managed to slip out from under Monroe's arm and into the hall to meet Connor.

"When did that start?" he asked, hiking a thumb towards Monroe's room.

"I'm not talking about this with you," she said, her voice dangerously low.

He snorted. "I get it."

"What exactly do you get?"

"That night we hooked up, you were totally jealous about him and Duncan so you came to me. We had a great night together and you were clearly happy with the outcome, yet you refused every other advance." He shook his head. "Makes sense now; you wanted a Monroe, just not this one," he added, gesturing at himself.

Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. These were things she hadn't admitted to herself; she sure as hell wasn't going to talk about them with Connor.

"God, my ex and _my father_. Now there's a sentence I never thought I would say, nor have I ever wanted to say."

"Connor," she said, the warning back in her tone. "You and I are not going to talk about this. Not now, probably not ever. Bring it up again and I will make sure you can't speak again. Are we clear?"

He smirked and Charlie knew exactly what he was thinking; she sounded a bit too much like Monroe. They _had _been spending entirely too much time together, even before this little road trip. It was bound to happen eventually. She ground her jaw and Connor simply nodded. The laughter faded from his eyes and he took a step back as he realized something. "How the hell are you up and moving anyway?"

The change in topic brought immediate relief to Charlie. "The Nano healed me last night. They let me heal Monroe too."

He shook his head as he tried to wrap his head around her words. "What?"

She sighed. "The three of us need to talk. I don't want to repeat things."

He nodded in understand. "I'll be in the living room downstairs. I'll get some food ready," he said and turned away.

She stared at the door to Monroe's room and stood there, staring at it. She wondered if the bond they had created last night would still be there when he woke or if last night had been as much of a fluke as the one before. She had gone from wanting to kill him to wanting to fuck him and now she was smack dab in the middle of those feelings. They seemed drawn together no matter what else was going on around them and ever since she had seen him in New Vegas, other feelings had surfaced. Having been too much to deal with, Charlie had pushed them aside and ignored them. She wished she was still able to do that.

She swallowed hard and opened the door only to find him fastening his jeans around his waist. There was a stain of dried blood and a rip in the upper thigh of the material from where he'd been shot and she had to force herself to remember that the damage had been healed. Her eyes traveled up and rested on the V his pelvic bones were making as they disappeared beneath the waistband. She bit her bottom lip as her eyes traveled up, taking in the sight of his chiseled chest marred by scars both old and new.

Their eyes met and if she was embarrassed about staring, she didn't let it show, making Monroe hard. They moved towards each other at the same time, meeting in the middle of the room. Her hands went to his sides while one of his went to her hip, the other getting lost in her golden locks. His lips descended over hers in a way that was comforting and lustful. She parted her lips and met his tongue eagerly. He tugged at her hair enough to angle her face to deepen the kiss. She widened her stance and pulled him closer, their mouths moving in perfect unison.

Her fingers twitched as she realized they were moving for the front of his jeans, but her logic got the best of her and she turned her head away, breaking the kiss.

"Connor's waiting downstairs for us," she whispered, surprised her voice wasn't as shaky as she thought it was going to be.

He took a deep breath and sighed, but didn't pull away. "I really don't give a shit."

Charlie couldn't help but smile at the playful tone of his voice. This was the first lighthearted moment they had shared together in what felt like an eternity. The fact that it was coupled with an intimate one made Charlie shiver. "This is what you came here for," she breathed.

His response was to smooth the hand on her hip over her ass and smirk at her. "I know that."

She shook her head as best she could with his fingers still tangled in her hair. "Monroe-" she started, but felt him cringe.

"Bass," he corrected.

She swallowed thickly, her body beginning to tremble despite herself. Calling him _that _name would force them both to confront the development between them. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. "Bass," she whispered.

He kissed her again, this time showing her gratitude. "Thank you for saving me," he murmured against her lips.

"Don't thank me," she returned. "The Nano granted me that gift; it's them you should be thanking."

He groaned and released his hold on her to pull away, both of them trying not to show how much the loss of touch affected the other. "Fuck the Nano," he grumbled and turned to search for his shirt, giving Charlie the ability to see the scars from the whipping he had taken for Connor. She turned away and moved towards the door. As she went to open it, Monroe's hand pressed against it, keeping it closed. He leaned into her, his lips against her ear, and whispered, "To be continued."

Charlie shuddered and opened the door when he allowed. They walked side by side until they reached the stairs. She went down them first and saw Connor coming through the front door with a bag in his hand. He smiled at her, but looked away the instant his eyes strayed to the man behind her.

"Dad," he said, his tone harsh as he led them towards the living room.

"Son," Monroe returned, a touch of humor there.

Charlie rolled her eyes as she plunked herself down on the end of a three-seater couch. She crossed her legs and let her forearms rest on her thighs as she watched the other two sit. Connor sat in a very beat up recliner while Monroe debated sitting next to her or somewhere else. He settled on the other end piece of the couch and then looked around. "Where's your friend?"

Connor stopped for a moment and then shrugged as he went back to digging in his bag. He brought out food and tossed some things their way. "He left with the others a few nights ago."

"Instead of us having to ask how or why every few minutes like children, why don't you tell us everything that's happened since we last saw you," Charlie declared, tearing into the chunk of bread. She wondered where he had gotten it from as it was still warm.

"I'm assuming he told you about how Neville and I ambushed him at his rest stop."

"You two tried to kill him, but failed. Again," she fired back without missing a beat. "What happened next?"

A light smile touched Monroe's lips as he took in the sight of her. She was sitting so casually, but he knew she would be ready to jump up and into battle at a moment's notice. Her eyes were shining brightly as she derailed Connor's attempt to shake her. As he stared at her, his smile slowly began to fade. She was eerily like Miles at the moment. There was a friendly demeanor about her, but one that could turn deadly the second a threat arose. He shuddered as he let his mind wander down that dark path of what if's concerning Charlie's parentage.

Monroe was grateful as Connor's voice pulled him back to their current situation. "Neville started going crazy after only a few hours of sitting in that shed. Just after dark he started talking to the wall. I thought he was just speaking out loud, but he started answering his own questions and I realized he was having a conversation with nothing. Full on crazy. Then it got stranger as he kept saying Jason as if the guy was there with us."

Charlie tensed at the memory of Jason; of the way his eyes opened wide with shock while blood poured from the freshly made gun shot in his stomach. Monroe found himself wanting to reach out and comfort her as he knew what she was thinking about, but remained where he was, leaving her to deal with her inner demons.

"Then what?" she asked, her voice gruff as her guard roared to life.

"Each day Neville got a little crazier; he barely stopped to rest or eat. I had to force him to do so. It got a little better in Odessa. He wanted to stay there, but I quickly realized it was because there were more people like him converging on the town. About a dozen in total, Davis and Truman included, met there, all stark raving mad about Bradbury, Idaho. I went with them, our group gathering more and more each time we stopped, but when we got here it got to be too much."

"When did they leave here?" Monroe asked.

"Day before last."

Monroe looked at Charlie as she turned her head towards him. Their eyes met as they debated what to do without saying a word. They weren't far behind the group, if they moved soon they might catch up with them by this time tomorrow. Charlie looked away first, her eyes going to Connor. "Anything else you can tell us?"

He shook his head. "Nothing you probably don't already know. From what I understand the Patriots and Nano have teamed up. That can't be good."

"It's not," Monroe agreed.

"All the more reason to go to Bradbury and find out," she stated, rushing on before either of the men could call it a done deal. "But I don't think we should go alone."

"What do you mean?" Connor asked, but from the look on Monroe's face, he already knew what was going to come out of her mouth next.

"We need the others," she said, more to Monroe than to Connor. "Miles will be great backup and my mom and Aaron known the Nano better than anyone."

The thought of seeing Rachel again made Monroe want to kill something, but he pushed that thought away. "They're all the way back in Austin. If we go back we might lose the trail. Maybe Bradbury is only the beginning."

"I came here to help you find Connor. I did say I was going back after we found him," she said, holding Monroe's gaze. "Well..." she gestured at his son sitting opposite them and watched as he tensed.

Monroe didn't speak for fear of lashing out at her, but his anger was out of control. Charlie was staring back at him, her gave unwavering. Connor got to his feet, rolling his eyes as neither one of them looked his way. "I'll give you guys some space," he said and left.

The moment the door shut behind him, Monroe and Charlie got to their feet as if they were being controlled. "I thought we were finally getting somewhere after last night."

She nodded. "I know I told you I would leave when we had that fight, but I'm over that," she assured him. "I don't want to leave, but it's for the best. You guys track them and I'll get the others. If you guys leave Bradbury you can leave a path for me to track. Out of everyone you know what I look for; it'll be the easiest way to find you."

"I don't like the idea of you on your own."

Charlie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "This need to protect me because we fucked the one time is not doing anything for me." She winced a little at her own words, but it was too late to take them back. "I'll be fine on my own, I've done it before."

"I know you'll be fine. I never doubted that."

"You have to know that this is the best way."

"What about asking your new Nano friends to send a message for you?" he asked, taking a step towards her.

The look on his face made Charlie wonder if she was looking in a mirror. His face reflected the thoughts in her mind perfectly. They had just stumbled into something new and neither of them wanted to part ways on the off chance it would change everything. Wanting to ease his worry, and partly to ease her own, she closed the gap between them and took his hands in hers. "I will be fine and I _will _find you."

"Just don't go into any bars," he warned, his voice low.

Her lips twitched into a smile as she relived the day he had slaughtered all of the men that had drugged in her their efforts to use her body. The trust that had formed between them when she woke up to realize that Sebastian Monroe had been the one to save her. "I won't."

He leaned in, his forehead resting against hers. "I don't want you to go," he whispered.

"I don't want to go."

"Then damn it, Charlie, don't."

"Bass-"

He couldn't hold back after hearing his name on her lips. His lips molded over hers and his tongue delved into her mouth immediately. She let go of his hands in favor of grabbing the hem of his shirt. His hands went to her sides and slid down as far as they could before he applied pressure. Knowing what he wanted, Charlie jumped and let him haul her up. Her hands went to his shoulders to steady herself as her legs wrapped around his waist.

With one hand digging into her hip, the other arm looped solidly around her back, he moved them into the next room; the kitchen. He groaned into her mouth as he set her on the granite counter top that had survived this long. Kitchens had always been his thing before the black out and he couldn't picture anything else but Charlie laid out atop the counter with his cock buried deep inside her. She seemed to have the same appreciation as she pushed herself to the edge and grabbed at the hem of his shirt. She brought it over his head and tossed it to the floor before he reciprocated. She lifted her hips enough for him to be able to work her jeans and underwear off. Since she hadn't put shoes on yet, her clothes fell to the floor, Monroe's landing in the same spot shortly after.

He placed his hands on her knees and pushed them apart, moving in closer to her. She could feel him on the inside of her thigh and she moaned with anticipation. He reached between them and rubbed his throbbing cock back and forth along her wet folds a few times before pushing himself completely into her. She gasped into their kiss and then bit down on his lip. Her hands roamed over his back as he gripped the edge of the counter and began to set a pace that would get them off sooner rather than later.

"Bass," she moaned as he hit her harder and harder with each stroke. His name spurred him on and he picked up the pace. She rotated her hips to match his thrusts with some of her own, but in order to do so she had to dig her nails into his back. In the process she could feel his flesh tearing and soon her hand was wet with what she knew was blood. That only seemed to work in their favor.

As her body began to spasm with the beginnings of release, she pulled her head back and bit her own lip to keep from crying out. Monroe leaned forward enough to nip at her exposed skin. As her nails ripped a new path into his back, his blunt teeth latched onto her throat, eliciting a sound of pure satisfaction from her; her walls coating him with her release. He wasn't far behind. He was about to pull out and cum on her thigh, but Charlie had other ideas. She dug her heels into his ass and held him there. He was too lost in the throes of passion to fight too much and a few thrusts later he was tumbling after her into bliss, his fluids filling her to the fullest.

Finished, Charlie tipped her head forward and let her hands rest calmly on his shoulders. His cheek nuzzled hers as one of his hands snuck up to palm her breast. "You're still going." He didn't even bother making it a question.

His beard scratched her cheek as she nodded, a small smile on her face. "Eventually."

He pulled back enough to look at her, questioning her with his gaze.

"I can try to send a message through the Nano and I'll go with you to try to catch up with them, but if it doesn't work, I need to go."

His response was to kiss her again, his cock springing back to life inside her. She moaned and moved her hips, indicating she was more than ready for another round.

* * *

Outside, Connor stood on the slab of concrete that qualified as a porch. He could hear what was going on inside, but that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the light fixtures on either side of the door that made him stare in wonder. The bulbs, thought useless long ago, were flickering and then glowing brightly as if someone had simply flicked the switch on the other side of the wall.


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n: I know, a filler chapter. Bear with me!**

**also, I'm posting way less often than I wanted to, but I just started a new relationship and just got back from vacation so life's getting in the way. But! I'm back now so I should be updating more frequently :)**

ELEVEN

It had been dark for quite some time before the trio decided to stop and rest. They had eaten and decided a watch schedule. Monroe had taken the first watch and Connor had volunteered for the second. He was sitting a little further away from the dying fire, his back resting against what used to be a tree. The only sound that reached his ears was that of the bugs and the light snore from his father. He tried his best to keep his eyes averted from the pair, but he found himself giving in more times than he cared to admit.

He had heard their encounter in the house earlier and he had seen the evidence when he walked in to discover them straightening their clothes as they met him in the foyer from the direction of the kitchen. All day he had seen the looks like they gave each other and the jealousy was getting to him. Even now, they were trying to keep it hidden, but they were lying close enough to one another that it was hard to ignore.

Connor thought back to the night in New Vegas when he had hooked up with Charlie. He had thought for sure that that was the beginning of something great. But all she ever did was reject his advances. He thought maybe it was just her and that she wasn't ready for anything big, but now he knew.

He turned away and closed his eyes, trying not to think about what could have been. When he opened them again he realized how tired he was and decided it was time to wake Charlie for the third watch. When he was sure she was up, he went back to his position a little ways away from them and laid down. He drifted off, shrouded by dark thoughts.

* * *

Miles sat at the bar, nodding at the bartender after receiving his third round. They had been on the road for the better part of week and this was the first time they had truly stopped for the night. Odessa, Texas had an inn with plenty of rooms, places to eat, and an assortment of bars like this one. As he downed his whiskey he reflected on the fact that he had abandoned the Patriot War in efforts to deal with more Nano bullshit. He wanted to believe that the Nano that had delivered their message to Aaron was legit, but there was a part of him that knew better than to assume. He wasn't quite ready to dive in head first with that one.

He ordered another round and watched from the corner of his eye as Rachel slid onto the stool next to him and ordered a round for herself. He turned towards her and let the corners of his lips rise, but it was not anywhere near a smile. "Aaron and Priscilla have turned in for the night," she informed him.

"Good for them."

She sighed and reached out to place her hand on his forearm. "You're doing the right thing, Miles. Blanchard didn't want to extend the search for Davis and they don't know about the Nano. He's leading the front for the war on the Patriots."

He turned to stare at her. "I know Blanchard has a handle on things, Rachel. I'm worried about Charlie. God only knows what's happening on the road with her and Bass." He shuddered just to think about it.

Rachel tensed as she always did when her daughter was mentioned in the same sentence as Sebastian Monroe. "She's fine. She can handle herself," she said, her voice tight. She let a small smirk form at her lips as she added, "She's a Matheson after all."

"Yeah, well, being a Matheson didn't really work for Ben or Danny."

She looked up and glared at him. "No thanks to Monroe, who you let go off with Charlie. Again."

She got off the stool and walked away. Miles rolled his eyes, slapped some diamonds on the counter, and chased after her. He caught her before she reached the door and moved to stand in front of her, blocking her path. "Monroe isn't the enemy, Rachel. Not anymore. He has had more than enough chances to hurt her. You said it yourself, she can handle herself."

She swallowed hard and gave him that look; one that said she was about to drop a bombshell. "You would feel differently if you knew the truth," she said, her voice quiet.

"Knew what?"

"Charlie's-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a younger man approached them and began talking. "I heard you guys mention Monroe and Charlie."

Miles and Rachel turned towards him. "You know them?"

"Monroe was my big payday once upon a time, but Charlie was determined to kill him for herself. I guess she decided she had something else in mind because-"

"Watch it," Miles warned, his hand balling into a fist at his side. It was bad enough he had seen the looks passed between Charlie and Monroe, he didn't want to think about it being so transparent that strangers could see it too.

"Well, they passed through not too long ago looking for Neville and his travel companion."

Miles understood that to be Connor. "Did you speak to them?"

The other man nodded. "They're on their way to Bradbury, Idaho with the rest of the crazies. If they make it that far."

"What do you mean?"

The younger man scoffed. "Either those two are going to kill each other or lock themselves in a room and-"

"Okay, enough," Miles interrupted and shook his head to erase those images. "Thanks."

"Anytime," he said, holding a hand out as if expecting payment. He wiggled his fingers and smiled. "Information isn't free, but if the payment is decent enough I'll overlook the fact that the two of you are high up on the Patriot's most wanted lists and be on my way."

Miles knew better than to haggle with something like this. He reached for his the small bag and gave the other guy a few diamonds. He nodded and then took off. Rachel stared at him for a moment before storming out of the bar, pushing past Miles with little effort.

"That son of a bitch!" she seethed as Miles met her outside.

"Hey, that kid doesn't know the full story. He-"

She cut him off with a deadly look. "He just has to take everything; consequences be damned. He has no right. He-"

"Whoa, Rachel, slow down. I might not like it either, but-"

"She's your daughter, Miles."

Miles felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. Her words circled around him, repeating like a broken record until they faded into nothing. He didn't know how to react and instead, just stared there looking at Rachel like a deer caught in headlights.

"I told you you'd feel different if you knew the truth," she added with a whisper and then turned away, leaving him to stare after her in a stupor.

* * *

The dark sky was beginning to lighten as the sun began to rise. Charlie knew she should wake the others soon and get going, but she knew they could both use the rest. Instead, she reached for her bag and dug around for the bottle with the Nano. She was only mildly surprised to find five bugs inside when last she looked there were two. She undid the cap and held out her other hand, watching as the bugs hovered over her open palm. She stared at them as she thought of what to say.

"I don't know if you can communicate with the others, but if you can, please tell my mom, Miles, and Aaron that I'm on my way to Bradbury and they should meet me there."

The bugs blinked in no rhythm whatsoever.

Charlie sighed and tipped the bottle in their direction. She snorted as they went back inside. "That you understand," she grumbled and returned them to her bag. Needing to get up and walk around, Charlie got to her feet and moved away from their little camp. She figured she would make the most of this and search for something to eat while she was up.

She hadn't made it far before she realized her efforts would be wasted. This place was still mostly flat and desolate. She leaned against a small tree and tipped her face towards the rising sun. She let her mind wander to the night in Clayton and all the events that had transpired afterwards. She could finally admit that she liked Monroe, but it was still strange. Something had changed between them and while she liked this new path, she had to decide if it was a change that would last or end in disaster.

"Charlie?" came Monroe's voice as he approached.

She stepped away from the tree so that he could see her. "I was going to give you guys a little more time to rest."

"You alright?" he asked, moving to stand right before her.

She nodded. "I tried sending a message earlier with the Nano in the bottle. I don't think it worked."

"Maybe it did."

She sighed as she stared up at him. "Maybe it didn't. Look, Bass, I can't take that chance. We need the others and I have to go get them." She reached out and took his hands in hers. "Whatever is going on between us will still be there when we see each other next."

"What _is _going on between us?" he questioned, closing the gap between them, their fronts touching.

Charlie's lips parted to answer, but her words were stopped as the sound of a twig snapping reached their ears. They turned in the direction of the sound and saw Connor staring at them, eyes full of rage. "Really, you two?" he asked, gesturing at them. "I woke up and you were gone. I thought something happened," he snapped, stashing his gun into the waistband of his jeans.

He turned to go back to camp and Charlie exchanged a glance with Monroe. She stepped away from him and took off after Connor. "Hey," she said, pulling him to a stop. "You-"

He pulled out of his grasp and shoved her away from him. "I always thought-" he started, but composed himself and shook his head. "Never mind. Whatever the two of you have going on, can you not make it obvious when I'm around? It's weird," he said and stalked off again, leaving Charlie to stare after him.

"He'll be fine," Monroe said, coming up behind her.

She nodded briefly. "Durango's only a few hours away. We leave now we can make it before noon."

"We-"

"Not now," she whispered and followed Connor to get her things ready for their departure. Monroe sighed and raked a hand through his hair before going after her to do the same.

* * *

Aaron blinked as a flash of bright green light roused him from sleep. He gasped a little as he woke with a start and when his eyes focused, he could see a small stream of fireflies coming in through the cracks in the walls. The dull glow of each one combined to be bright enough in the room to where Aaron could see everything. Slowly, the fireflies swarmed together and swirled until their shape changed into that of someone he recognized.

Cynthia.

He knew it was just the Nano using his memories to present themselves in a non threatening way, but seeing her face before him made his breath catch. He gave a sad smile and pushed himself into a sitting position, trying his best not to wake Priscilla from where she slumbered on the other side of the bed.

"The Chosen One asked us to deliver a message to the Creator," faux-Cynthia said, her voice eery and distant.

"I'm listening."

"She is following leads to Bradbury. She will meet you along the way."

"Meet us? Is she not traveling with Monroe still?"

"We have delivered her message as requested." Cynthia stared at him for a moment and then disappeared, leaving a swarm of Nano bugs in her stead.

Aaron sighed. "That wasn't really helpful," he muttered. "If you can, tell her we're on our way there too." Aaron didn't know if they heard him or had any intentions of relaying his reply as he watched them leave the room, returning him to darkness beside Priscilla.


	12. Chapter 12

TWELVE

Durango was bustling. Monroe had only been there a handful of times, most of them pre-blackout. Never had it been so busy.

Connor, Charlie, and Monroe perched themselves on the outskirts of the center, watching the people mill about. Some of them were carrying on with everyday normal life, but most were moving without purpose. Those were the ones the Nano were directing and most of them were Patriots. That meant just strolling through the town was off limits. Neither of them was sure if they would be shot sight on scene should they be spotted. After some time scouting, the trio retreated to come up with a game plan.

"There still wasn't any sight of Neville," Connor said. "I could go into town and look for him. I simply elected to stay behind in Trinidad. I could easily tell him I changed my mind and wanted to help them in Bradbury afterwards."

"Too risky," Monroe said, his eyes still trained towards the population off in the distance.

"Well, it's more than the two of you have," he argued.

Monroe's jaw ticked as he tried to refrain from lashing out. Before he could demand his son stay and wait for a solid plan, Charlie gave him the green light. "If he'll listen to you, tell him we're here and that we're on his side. If he's too far gone then we'll just follow from a distance."

"I'll be back when I have something," he said and walked away without any hesitation.

Charlie did a double take as she turned and caught the look Monroe was giving her. "What?"

"You just sent my son into the heart of enemy territory."

"Most of them are so far gone they won't even give him the time of day," she said, hoping that it was the truth. "I'm sure it would be different if it was one of us. You heard Adam, we're in the top ten for most wanted." Her lips turned into a smirk. "Probably true for both of our enemies."

They both lapsed into silence for a minute before Monroe stepped closer to her. She straightened her stance and tilted her head to look at him, but otherwise held her ground. He reached up and twisted her long golden locks around his fingers. "I never did get an answer to my question."

Charlie put her hand on his waist and pulled him closer. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent that was Sebastian Monroe. "I don't know how to answer that." She licked her lips and shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever it is..."

"It's wrong and twisted," he interrupted, rushing on when she started to pull away. "But I can't help the way I've come to feel about you, Charlotte."

She felt a shudder ripple down her spine as he used her full name. She wondered if that was how he felt when she called him Bass.

"I hated you for a very long time," she said, her voice quiet. "But that all changed when you saved me in that bar. Other feelings began presenting themselves and somewhere along the way, I stopped wanting to kill you in favor of-" She stopped short and looked away as she felt her cheeks heat up.

He reached out with his other hand and grasped her chin, forcing her to look at him again. He didn't say anything as he stared at her for what felt like eternity. She felt her breathing become shallow and before she knew it, his lips were on hers, his hand cradling her head. They lost themselves into the kiss, so much so that they didn't hear the footsteps that moved towards them, crunching over the dirt.

"I guess your ass really is made of candy," came a deadly familiar voice.

Monroe and Charlie pulled away from one another and looked in the direction of Connor and Neville as they approached. They stood shoulder to shoulder as Neville trained his gun on Charlie. She had already been down this road with him and, truth be told, she was over it. She simply stared back at him with dead eyes. She was only grateful that Monroe didn't step protectively in front of her. She would have been deeply offended.

"Jason I expected and this one," he continued, jerking his head in the direction of Connor standing a few feet behind him. "But to get Sebastian Monroe to follow you around..." he whistled and gave her a cold smirk. "That's some ass you have there."

"Neville," Monroe said his name like a warning, as if commanding him to stop.

The former soldier barely let his eyes flicker towards his former leader. "You're not my leader anymore, Monroe. Whether I kill her or not is no longer your decision. She shot my son."

"You killed my father," Charlie countered, adding gasoline to the fire. "The only difference was that if I hadn't done what I did, many more people would have died and Jason would have been racked with guilt."

Monroe heard the crack in her voice. He had never seen her deal with Jason's death except throw up those infuriating walls. He remembered she had come out of that building looking like a zombie and hadn't said anything for almost a full day. She'd gone right back to her normal self after that and he'd left her be. Granted, he hadn't realized how much Jason Neville had meant to her either and he couldn't help the stab of jealousy that coursed through him concerning the dead kid.

"How dare you speak of him like you know him better than I do."

Charlie stepped forward, her hand going for the gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Monroe took that time to intervene and stepped forward too, putting an arm out to block her. He had seen her stare down the barrel of a gun before and he had no inclination to let her do it again; apparently for the third time. Connor picked up on the turn of events and used Neville's distraction to get the gun from the older man's hands.

"We didn't come here to fight," Connor said, moving away from Neville.

"Could have fooled me," he returned, looking at Charlie.

"We just happen to be traveling to the same destination," Monroe said. "We heard you were on your way to Bradbury as well. We figured we could join your group."

Neville eyed them all wearily. "I don't think the others would agree to that. There's no way you three want the same things we do."

"And what is that, exactly?" Monroe asked.

Neville just stared at him in a way that made Charlie begin to panic. She could sense a change in the air; her skin began to crawl and she found it hard to breath. "We don't have common interests, Monroe. We want to make sure the world is under our control. Not yours." His voice had taken on a possessed quality and in the time it took Charlie to blink, all hell broke loose.

Monroe's skin started to turn red with welts as if someone were squirting him with acid and he cried out in pain. "No!" Charlie yelled and reached for the gun at her back. She cocked it and aimed it at Neville. Without thinking, she squeezed the trigger. The bullet landed squarely between his eyes and his body fell to the ground, a look of surprise and relief on his face.

The gun fell from her hands as Monroe's cries of anguish filled her ears. She and Connor dropped to their knees beside him at the same time. "What the hell?"

"Nano," she grumbled as she forced Monroe onto his back.

"It fucking burns!" Monroe hissed as pain coursed through his body over and over.

"Connor, there's a first aide kit in my bag," Charlie snapped.

"On it," he said and scrambled to his feet to retrieve it.

Charlie's eyes scanned Monroe for a few seconds as she assessed the damage. She was brought back to the other night when she had healed him with her touch as the Nano had healed her. "Please let me heal him again," she whispered to no one in particular as she grabbed hold of his forearm. She closed her eyes and concentrated with all she had.

"What the hell?" Connor asked, completely stunned.

When Charlie opened her eyes she saw Monroe staring back at her. His skin was back to normal and Connor was standing beside them, looking on with horror and awe at what he had just witnessed. Charlie released her grip on his arm and felt her vision swim as she fell backwards. She braced herself for impact, but she was out before her head hit the ground.

* * *

Miles was still in a blind-sighted daze when he entered the room he and Rachel were sharing for the night. He had been walking around with his bottle of whiskey until it was gone. It was now well into the night and he had no choice but to come back here. He found her sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She was staring at the wall and continued to stare as he walked in and shut the door behind him. "What the hell do you mean Charlie's my daughter?"

Rachel took a deep breath and brought her gaze up to meet his. "Do you remember when you were getting ready to set out on your first tour?"

"Yes," he answered sharply. He remembered vividly what had happened that night. It was the first time since she had married Ben that she had admitted she still had feelings for Miles. While he was at their house, Ben had gotten called away for work and left the two of them alone. He had said goodbye to Rachel many times that night.

"That was the night Charlie was conceived."

Miles shook his head once and ran a hand through his hair, trying to wrap his mind around this. "How can you be so sure?"

She swallowed thickly. "Because Ben and I had been trying to get pregnant, but nothing was working. A few weeks after you left we had an appointment with a fertility doctor. They ran some tests and told us they would call with the results soon. Sometimes those results could take a week or more."

Miles felt a knot form in his gut as she continued.

"One day I was home and got a phone call. It was the doctor. He said either the tests were wrong or this was a miracle baby. He told me I was almost six weeks along, but that Ben was sterile. He said if we wanted to retest Ben, we could come in at any time, but congratulations."

Miles swallowed, but his throat was bone dry. "You never told Ben." It wasn't a question.

Her head barely moved to the side as an answer. "I never told him."

"But Danny..." even as he said it, Miles knew the truth.

"Was yours too," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Miles leaned against the wall behind him and slid to the floor with a thunk. This was too much for him to handle. He could recall all the pictures, phone calls, and visits he had with them before the blackout and not once had he ever suspected they were his. "All this time," he whispered, his eyes slowly seeking out Rachel in the candle light. "All this time they were mine and you didn't think to mention that to me?"

Rachel got up and her lips parted to speak, but her words were lost as their door opened. Aaron and Priscilla stepped in, a look of urgency on the former billionaire's face. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something, but I just got a message from the Nano. Well, from Charlie."

Rachel and Miles turned their eyes to him. "What was it?" Miles asked in a harsher tone than he wanted.

"Charlie's on the same path we are. She's going to Bradbury and that she'll meet us along the way."

"Anything else? Is she alright?" Rachel asked, worry in her voice.

Aaron shook his head. "They were very vague and left without answering any questions. Smart of her to use the Nano to send a message. It must mean that they've appeared to her too."

"We should head out."

"You need to rest," Rachel insisted.

"I'm fine," he said, forcing himself to his feet. He stumbled half way up and fell back on his ass with a grunt.

Aaron and Rachel exchanged a look while Priscilla looked away. "She'll be fine," Aaron said as he moved to help Miles up. "It's Charlie," he added.

With his arm around Aaron's shoulders, Miles made it to the bed and laid down, closing his eyes in effort to make the room stop spinning. "We leave at first light," he declared.

"Sorry to interrupt," Aaron said as he and Priscilla took their leave.

"It's okay," Rachel said as she closed the door behind them, waving them goodnight as she did so. When she went to the bed, Miles was sound asleep. She felt horrible about the way she had revealed the truth about Charlie, but she was tired of keeping it to herself. Still worried about her sole surviving child, Rachel laid out on her side, facing Miles, and closed her eyes, joining him in much needed sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**a/n: I orginally planned on them having a heart to heart and her being gone in the morning, but clearly Charloe was having none of that. Let's see what happens to our star-crossed lovers now that they've parted ways...**

THIRTEEN

Monroe could feel his muscles cramping from sitting in this position for so long, but he refused to move until Charlie woke up. Instead, he let one of his hands run up and down her back while the other stayed protectively around her. She was sitting sideways on his lap while he sat propped up against a tree. Her head rested against his shoulder, her legs stretched out in front of her. He knew she was resting from healing him, but he was still worried. Worried because she shouldn't have been able to heal him again and that she had passed out immediately afterwards.

Surprisingly Monroe had kept his calm as he ordered Connor to get their things. He had gathered Charlie into his arms as they sought out better shelter. They had walked almost a mile before they spotted an area that was heavily shielded by trees and bushes. That was when Monroe had sat down and pulled Charlie into his lap while Connor set their things down. Monroe's next order had been for Connor to get rid of Neville's body. He had even suggested scouting the area for any information. The boy had huffed for a moment, but gave in and left the other two alone.

That had been a few hours ago.

Just as Monroe was realizing that he couldn't ignore the sting in his bladder forever, he felt Charlie begin to stir. She inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the person she was pressed up against. Satisfied with the scent of Monroe, she let out a sigh and rubbed her cheek against the fabric of his jacket.

"Thank you," he said, his voice strange to Charlie's ears.

"Welcome," she breathed and pulled her head up in order to look at him. "How long have I been out?"

"Not that long."

She nodded and saw him wince as she shifted her weight. She smiled sheepishly and slid off his lap, reaching out to offer her hand to help him up as well. "Where's Connor?"

"He was taking care of Neville's body. By now he should be in town getting information."

Her brows rose. "Didn't you just give me shit for telling Connor to go into town?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes." He made a spinning motion with his hand and moved behind a grouping of trees.

Charlie rolled her eyes, but obliged him. "So we're at this stage now?"

He either didn't hear her or was changing the subject as he asked, "What was with Neville's comment about your ass being made of candy?"

Charlie stiffened for a moment, but drew a shaky breath as she answered, the memory of her time in the safe house with Neville coming back to her. "Something he said to me once."

"Care to elaborate?"

She sighed. "It was one of the days that Miles was missing. You had us part ways and when I was on my own, I was ambushed by Neville. He told me to lead him to Jason. I knew he would kill me outright if I told him the truth, so I led him to a safe house. Long story short, he pulled the trigger a few times, but he had aimed high on purpose. He came closer and held the barrel to my temple and pulled the trigger, but the chamber was empty so he let me go."

By the time she had finished, Monroe had finished and approached her. He grabbed her bicep and whirled her around, fury in his eyes. "He _what_?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Bass. It's over and done with. I survived and I made the decision that I wanted to live. I was sorry about Jason, but I wasn't going to walk a fine line between life and death. I had played that game with Neville and almost lost."

"You could have died."

"I've had plenty of those moments," she muttered which only seemed to make him angrier. She shook her head and reached up to place her hands flat on his chest. "Just forget I said anything."

He snorted, but moved his hands to her hips to pull her close. "I can't do that, Charlie, I-"

She cut him off by grabbing his shirt and yanking him towards her. His lips sought hers instinctively and he kissed her savagely. The anger and fear of her near death experience seemed to fuel him on. If he wasn't so intent on keeping her alive, he would kill her himself for her behavior. Their kiss became wilder and their bodies molded together as if they were the perfect match. Their hands roamed and grabbed each other in various places, tearing into their clothes as they went.

Charlie pushed his pants down enough to expose his hardened cock. He hissed into their kiss as her fingers wrapped around him and began to move back and forth. His right hand fisted into her hair and tugged her head back, his lips going to her throat. He nipped at her skin and moaned as she began to squeeze intermittently with her tugs. His breath warmed her flesh as he let out a shaky breath. Charlie couldn't help but smile as she let her thumb swipe over the head of his cock. He shook in her arms and grunted when she pushed back, forcing him to move.

The action caused Monroe to stumble and pull free of her grasp. He braced himself for the feel of her landing on top of him, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes and saw her kicking off her boots. She smirked at him as she pushed her pants down her legs and stepped out of them. He barely had time to push his own clothes out of the way before she straddled him. He groaned as she lifted her hips and impaled herself on him.

Her hands slapped down to his chest as his rose to hold her hips in place. Her fingers flexed, grabbing the material beneath to keep her steady as she rode him. She ground herself mercilessly against him, biting her bottom lip to keep from being too loud. Monroe could only stare up at her as her head tipped back, her golden tresses cascading down her back. She picked up the pace and he followed suit, returning everything she gave him in full.

"Bass," she whispered, letting herself fall forward as her release began.

He locked his arms around her back and began thrusting in and out of her in a frenzy. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and moaned his name, her release coaxing his own. Her walls clenched at him and drew him further into her body. Just as with the other times, he was too lost in the throes of passion that it didn't occur to him to pull out until it was too late. Grunting his stupidity away, he gave a few final thrusts and then stilled as his body turned to jelly.

When he could think straight, he noticed Charlie was kissing his throat, making her way up to his lips. After a brief set of kisses, she pushed herself off to the side, sighing as he slid out of her. Without saying anything, she got to her feet and began to redress. Monroe followed suit and tensed as he knew what was coming next.

"I think you and Connor should tail the Patriots up to Bradbury. You don't want a repeat of Neville. It would be best if they didn't know they were being followed."

"You just passed out from...I don't even know what the hell that was and now you want to-"

She reached up and put a finger over his lips. "I really don't want to have this argument again. I'm going, Bass. I have to."

"But-"

"It will give us time to figure out what's going on here," she said, gesturing between them. "You and I are very, _very_ good at not talking, but we do need to have that discussion eventually. I'll be back before you know it."

At the risk of being cut off again, Monroe cupped her face and kissed her soundly. He pulled back enough to let their forehead's touch, but otherwise stayed where he was. "Ride like the wind."

She smiled as she remembered the Toy Story movies from when she was little and kissed him one last time. "Say goodbye to Connor for me."

He nodded and closed his eyes as if to savor her as she pulled away from him. She grabbed her things and forced herself to turn away. If she was going to leave, she had to do it without looking back. One turn of her head and she knew she wouldn't be able to take anymore steps. Monroe watched her go until she was out of sight, a knot of worry forming in his gut.

* * *

Connor returned to camp to find Monroe sitting against a tree, his face hardened with too many dark emotions. "Where's Charlie?"

"She left."

"What?" The day was just full of surprises concerning the Matheson girl.

"She's retracing our footsteps to get the others. If we're going against the Nano _and _the Patriots, we're going to need backup. Until she gets back, it's up to the two of us to keep an eye on them," he said, nodding in the direction of Durango. "Think you can try not to kill me for that long?"

"I'm sorry for that," Connor said in a voice that Monroe almost found sincere. "But you wouldn't stop siding with Miles. I know he's your bff or whatever, but you kept doing whatever he wanted like a-" He stopped as he realized it wasn't Miles that had Monroe going soft. His face hardened and his hands balled into fists at his side. "Oh."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out between the two of you, but this wasn't exactly something we planned," Monroe stated as if he could read Connor's thoughts.

Connor shuddered and turned his gaze to the ground. "Charlie was right when she said we shouldn't talk about this. I'm not going to try and kill you again, I was wrong to do it in the first place. Let's just figure out a game plan and go from there."

Monroe nodded. "Fair enough. Learn anything in town?"

Connor shook his head. "Not really. Neville had been on patrol when I arrived and the moment he saw me, he approached. I told him I just wanted to talk, but away from the others so I led him back to camp. When I went back after everything happened, the Patriots seemed restless. All I got from them was that they were planning on leaving soon and that they were looking for Neville."

"That's not going to end well."

"Nope. But at least they're leaving in the morning regardless if he's with them or not. I think that's part of the Nano's hold on them. They're aware that someone's missing, but their destination is more important."

"Perfect."

"Well," Connor said, getting to his feet. "I can take the first watch and get something to eat. You look like you could use a nap." His voice was cold by the end.

"Thanks," he mumbled and leaned back, closing his eyes. He heard Connor leave and felt himself relax. He didn't realize just how much he could miss Charlie until she wasn't around anymore. As he fell asleep, he felt that worry creep into his mind making him wonder if he really would ever see her again.


	14. Chapter 14

**a/n: I thought about writing more in depth about their time apart, but it's really not necessary for the story, so Charloe's solo travels are being cut short (you're welcome!) :)**

FOURTEEN

Charlie rode hard for four days straight. She made it a point to stop every few hours for no more than fifteen or so minutes at a time except to sleep. She alternated between walking the horse and riding him as to give him a break too. The last time she had been on her own she had a routine down and before the end of her first day she had already settled on a new one. After finding a secluded spot, she would hunt for something and cook what she caught on a small fire. While it digested, she pulled out the bottle with the Nano, each time finding more and more of them inside. Every night she asked them to give her any clues as to why or how she was the Chosen One, if they had any information on Monroe, or if they had even delivered her message to the others.

Nothing.

It was frustrating to no end. These things had asked her for help, told her the bare minimum of some scheme to help save humanity, told her she was the most important part of said plan, and then nothing. Absolute radio silence. The only thing she was able to tell about them was that they were multiplying at a crazy pace and soon they wouldn't fit in the bottle anymore. She had tried to let them out, but when she left the bottle open, only a few would go. Each time she tried to shut the bottle without them they would pester her until she let them back in.

But nothing, _nothing,_ was more strange than how much she missed Monroe.

She had finally gotten to a place where she could admit feelings to herself, but to miss him was something she hadn't bargained for. Charlie thought that leaving him would be like a splash of cold water and wake her up to reality. She thought she would realize they were no good together and be able to push those feelings aside, but the more she thought about him, the more she missed him. She missed his touch, his voice, his laugh, the way he stared at her whether he knew she was looking or not. She missed the way he smelled and the way he knew what she was thinking without her having to speak.

Being about thirty miles outside of Clayton, New Mexico didn't make things any easier. Every time she saw a sign telling her she was getting closer, she was rewarded by memories of the night they spent there. She had had to convince Monroe that it was for the best that she go and get the others herself, but now that she was away from him she realized she hadn't convinced herself. Either way, it was too late to turn back now.

Thinking of too late, Charlie pulled herself away from her thoughts enough to realize that it was was very late and past time to start a camp. The horse was trotting along at a slower pace than usual meaning it needed rest and so did she. As she surveyed her surroundings in effort to find a good spot, she heard a shattering noise from behind her. She whipped her head around to peer off into the darkness, but nothing.

As she began to look ahead again, she saw something flicker from the corner of her eye, just the tiniest flash of green light. Nano. She turned her head again and saw a stream of green light emerge from her bag. She knew then that the shattering noise must have been the bottle they had been contained in and made a mental not to be careful and clean out that bag as soon as possible.

The Nano appeared before her in a swarm of flickering green light. They seemed to stare at her for awhile and then began to move off to her left. They went a few yards and then stopped. Charlie watched as they came back to her and then moved left again, stopping in the same spot. She realized they wanted her to follow them and led her horse in that direction. Happy with this, the Nano continued to carve a path to whatever it was they wanted her to find and lit the way in the process.

She sighed with each turn they made, especially when she figured out she was backtracking. She was heading away from Clayton now, which was fine, but it was only going to set her back in her search for the others. But, for whatever reason, she knew she could trust these particular Nano and continued to follow them until they reached their destination.

When they stopped, so did Charlie. She stayed on her horse as she watched the swarm of fireflies blink in unison. Slowly, she dismounted and drew her sword. She couldn't imagine them leading her to danger, but it was better to be prepared than surprised. She took small steps towards the Nano and when she reached them, she heard the sound of someone else's footsteps. She tightened her grip on the handle and ducked behind a tree as she waited for the other person to come into view. She watched as a handful of new Nano joined the ones she had followed.

Charlie dropped the sword as she saw the person approaching her. They made eye contact and smiled at one another. Charlie wasn't even aware that she had moved until she met him halfway and threw their arms around one another. "Miles," she breathed against his jacket.

"Hey Kid," he returned, tightening his hold.

When they finally let go of one another and stepped back, the Nano took off in a swirling cloud of green. All except for one of them. It stayed and blinked in no particular rhythm. Charlie wondered if it was the original one that she had saved, but she shoved that thought to the back of her mind and turned to look at Miles. "They led me to you."

He nodded. "I was on watch and a few approached. I thought they were going to tell me something, but they just kept circling until I followed them. We got your message about Bradbury, by the way. We were already on our way up there though because of something they said to Aaron."

Charlie snorted. "It would have been nice if I knew my message had been delivered."

"Yeah, well, that's Nano for you."

She shrugged and turned to pick up her sword. "I can't be too mad at them, they did save my life. And Monroe's."

Something about the way she said Monroe, the way she hesitated as if she didn't want to use that name made Miles weary. "Speaking of, where is Bass?"

"He and Connor are on their way to Bradbury. I came back to get you guys and bring you there as well."

"So you did find Connor."

She nodded and made sure all her things were secure on her horse before leading it by the reins as she followed Miles to his camp. "We found him near Trinidad, Colorado." She then launched into the story about their travels, but Miles knew she was leaving something out. Aside from her saying Monroe in a strange way, whenever she talked about him, there was something about her that changed. It was bad enough to realize that something was going on between them when he thought she was his niece, but now that Charlie was his _daughter_, the idea of her and Monroe was even more weird.

He shook himself out of those thoughts as they reached camp. "It's still my watch and you look like you're about to pass out now."

She nodded and looked around to see her mom, Aaron, and Priscilla; all deep in sleep around a dying fire. "You didn't tell me what I missed," she said as she picked a spot closest to Miles.

"I'll let Aaron fill you in, he's the one that the Nano have been communicating with. Go to sleep, Charlie."

She nodded and yawned before lying down. As she closed her eyes, she saw the steady blinking of a green light. It faded until her eyes closed all the way and then she felt herself falling into the first good night's rest she'd had since her night in Clayton.

* * *

The same night that Charlie left, the Patriots in Durango decided to take their leave as well. Nearly a week later, they stopped again in Price, Utah. The city was completely abandoned prior to the Patriots. Monroe and Connor stayed behind to trail them as Charlie had suggested and it had worked well. The only problem they came across was the fact that the Patriots seemed to have doubled in numbers overnight without either of them noticing. When Connor had come back to report that morning, Monroe was left frowning at the news.

"Where the hell are they coming from?" he grumbled.

"Since we know where they're going, maybe we should go ahead of them," Connor suggested.

Monroe shook his head as he scraped his symbol for the Republic into the tree with his knife, adding a little arrow underneath pointing in the direction he would be going later that day. He couldn't think of anything else to leave for Charlie. He hoped it was good enough and that she would catch the symbols. He left them on whatever surface he could carve into. "No, we pace ourselves and stay behind. What if they suddenly decide Bradbury isn't the go-to destination anymore?"

Connor's jaw ticked, but he had to admit it was a fair point. "So is this what it's going to be like?"

"Is what going to be like?" Monroe asked, finishing his carving. He turned to look at Connor. They hadn't spoken much since Charlie had left, just enough to communicate what the other had seen on scouting missions and who was hunting/taking watches.

"When we rebuild the Republic. Is it going to be us ruling side-by-side, or am I to obey your every command until you die and I take over?" He sneered at the look on Monroe's face. "Or is rebuilding the Republic off the table now that you and Ch-"

"It's not off the table," Monroe interrupted, giving his son a deadly stare. "I always planned on taking back my kingdom, but it's a Hot Zone right now from the nukes. Once the Patriots and the Nano have been dealt with then it'll be time for me, for us, to start working on the Republic again."

Connor had to admit, it was a good strategy; vanquish the current enemy and then work on the old one. "We could always just take over the Wasteland."

Monroe snorted. "It would be easy, but I am not staying here any longer than I have to. I'll go as far east as I can and work on spreading west." He stared at Connor and studied him. "At first, you'll be my second in command, learning how to rule and working together to gain territory and soldiers. Then, once we're big enough, we can divide the territory and co-rule."

"How set are you on calling it the Monroe Republic still?"

Monroe shook his head. "I think it could use a new name." That name was synonymous with darkness and unnecessary amounts of bloodshed. A new name for a new era; not that Connor needed to know about that part at this very moment.

"I guess we'll have to brainstorm."

Monroe's lips twitched into a smile and nodded. "Now that you're back, I'm going to see what's out there for lunch. I'll be back soon," he said and gathered his weapons before taking off.

Hunting was the only time Monroe's mind was clear. If he wanted to eat, he couldn't have his mind focused on Charlie or anything else. However, the moment he caught his meal, the moment he began to worry again. Having feelings was exhausting. As it was, he was interrupted from catching the rabbit in front of him as the sound of voices filled his ears. Going into stealth mode, Monroe stepped carefully and followed the sound. He stayed behind a tree as he saw two Patriots; their backs to him. They were staring at nothing in front of them, but were clearly having a conversation with someone that wasn't there.

Nano.

"The reprogramming centers have had success in the past," the man on the right said, pausing as if to listen. "With your help they could be even more successful."

"It works best on younger generations, but with your help, we could reprogram anyone," the second man said.

They were both silent as if someone else was speaking to them. The first man spoke again in response. "We were already starting to build bigger ones; better ones. We have one in Arizona, Oregon, and we even had one in Canada."

Another pause.

The second man nodded enthusiastically at something Monroe could only guess at. "The one in Oregon is the largest one to date. It will be our best facility once it is fully functional."

To Monroe's dismay, the Patriots began to walk away. If he followed, he would lose his hiding spots and would be discovered. With them talking about reprograming centers, Monroe knew there was no way in hell he was going to let himself be seen. As it was, a knot began to form in his stomach as he managed to catch one last tidbit from the Patriots.

"Yes, those that destroyed our Texas facility are high on our list. It would be a great victory to have them reprogramed. We have a team searching for them now."

Monroe took a deep breath and his worry for Charlie intensified. Without doing anything stupid, he turned and went back towards his camp with Connor.


	15. Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

Ten days.

That was how much time had passed since he had seen Charlie and it was starting to affect his mood in the worst way. Monroe hadn't realized that he hadn't been without her for the better part of the past year; ever since she had helped him away from those Bounty Hunters in New Vegas. Even Connor was picking up on his foul mood and his son did everything he could to keep his distance. They hardly spoke except in passing. It wasn't like the silence between Monroe and Charlie either where they could go days without speaking and know everything was fine. No. The silence between Monroe and Connor was deafening and the hostility was growing.

However, all of that seemed to fade to the background as they reached their destination of Bradbury.

Night had fallen hours ago by the time Connor and Monroe caught up to the ever growing Patriot gathering. They had been prepared for making camp and seeing what they could find out in the morning, but as they got closer they knew sleep was out of the question.

They both exchanged looks from atop their horses and then peered off in the distance to the city of Bradbury, Idaho.

The entire town was lit up with Power as if it had never been turned off in the first place.

By the time Charlie and the others reached Twin Falls, Idaho, she felt her anxiety rising. Part of her wanted to leave them behind and ride straight on through until she reached Bradbury and Monroe. As much as she enjoyed seeing the little carvings here and there of the symbol matching the one on her wrist, she would enjoy seeing the man that made the mark more.

She sighed and tipped her face up towards the night sky. The moon was full, signaling a full month since she and Monroe had started their search for Connor. Two whole weeks had gone by since they had found him and she was so close to seeing Monroe again she actually ached. It was hard enough feeling this way, but it was even harder to keep it from the others. She knew Miles suspected something; he had before they left Austin.

But there was something Miles wasn't telling _her _so she didn't feel that bad.

"Hey," a calm voice said from beside her, pulling Charlie from her thoughts.

"Hey," she returned as she turned to see Rachel sitting next to her. "Not tired?"

"I am, but I haven't really had the opportunity to talk to you since you left Austin."

"Ah." Charlie had no idea what to say to her mother or if she even wanted to talk to her at all.

"I know we were never very close, but you're my daughter. I want us to have a relationship."

Charlie inclined her head and thought about her offer. She knew the moment she told her mother about her and Monroe, whatever relationship Rachel wanted would be gone and there was no getting it back. "You left us."

Rachel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I had to."

"You thought you had to. I understand that you felt guilty for turning off the power, but you could have just stayed with your family. We needed you more than the world needed power," Charlie said forcefully and got to her feet.

Rachel got up as well, watching Charlie begin to pace. "I know."

"You left because you wanted to find Miles and make sure he was still alive," Charlie stated, turning to meet Rachel's gaze. "And when you found him, you decided not to come back."

Rachel didn't flinch. "I didn't come back because-"

"Monroe held you hostage, I know. If he hadn't, you would have stayed anyway because that's where Miles was." Charlie felt a smirk tug at her lips, but it wasn't from humor, it was from malice instead. "You always loved him, I get it, but you left your kids to find him. Did you ever even love Dad?"

The smallest of smiles took hold of Rachel's lips as she stared at the cold shell that was her daughter. "I loved Ben."

"Not enough to stay faithful to him, though."

As Rachel's lips parted to respond, Miles approached them with concern etched on his face. "Everything okay over here?"

"Just having a heart-to-heart," Charlie quipped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Give us a minute," he said to Rachel and then nodded for Charlie to follow him away from camp. Charlie sighed, but followed him anyway. She saw the small flicker of green from that lone firefly that insisted on trailing after her the rest had flown away. "What the hell, Charlie?"

"What?"

He gave her that look that parents always give their kids when they know they did wrong. It was eerie coming from him. "I thought you told me you were going to give her a second chance and that you were okay with the two of us seeing each other?"

"I am okay with the two of you and I do want to give her a second chance."

"Then why are you yelling at her about all of this again?"

Charlie went to say the first thing on her mind, but quickly realized it would reveal too much and clamped her lips together. "I'm just anxious to get to Bradbury and figure out what the hell is going on with the Nano and the Patriots. The sooner we figure it out, the sooner we can settle down and be done with this shit."

They both knew she wasn't the settling type, but he didn't comment. "Just promise me you'll take it easy on her."

"What about you? You two are obviously fighting over something. It's okay for you to be mad at her, but not for me?" Charlie shuddered; this conversation was starting to sound eerily similar to one she had had with Monroe.

Now was a good a time as any for Miles to tell her the truth and had it not been for the gunshot erupting through the silence around them, he would have.

Charlie cried out as pain exploded through her arm. She went down on her knees quickly caught herself with her other arm before falling forward on her face. She took a look at her arm, but couldn't see anything in the dark. When she touched the spot that hurt, her fingers came away slick with what she knew was blood. She forced herself to her feet and reached behind her with her injured arm for her gun. Adrenaline was coursing through her, ebbing away at her pain for the moment.

She cursed the darkness as she hid behind a tree and looked around for her assailants. She turned towards the fire to see Aaron and Priscilla moving away from the light. Miles and her mother were nowhere to be seen. Charlie took a deep breath and pushed herself away from the tree in effort to find those that shot at her. She barely made it two steps before a fist connected with her jaw, sending her flying into the ground.

Her grip on the gun loosened as she went down, bouncing out of her reach. She rolled onto her back as quickly as she could and managed to bring her leg up to catch her attacker in the crotch. He gave a grunt and fell to his knees beside her. Charlie scrambled for her sword and pushed with all her might as she sat up. She put her hand on his shoulder as her sword ripped through his middle. She used him to get to her feet and then withdrew the sword, pushing him down on his back. She sheathed her sword again and went for her gun before following the sounds of fighting off to her left.

She stopped short at the sight of two fireflies zipping up to her. "Not a good time," she grumbled and tried to duck around them. They followed her every move, getting closer in the process. "What-" she started as they neared her eyes. Before she could get out another word, they rushed on, hitting her eyes. Her mouth opened with the anticipation of crying out in pain, but all she felt was a mild discomfort as they merged with her eyes. She blinked a few times, her vision nothing but bright green.

Slowly, her vision returned to normal and then shifted. Everything became clearer and she remembered a time when her father had let her look through a pair of nocturnal lenses. Chalking it up to being the Chosen One and needing all the help she could get, Charlie didn't question her new, clear vision, and moved in the direction of the man creeping up on Aaron and Priscilla.

She rose her gun and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Either the gun had jammed in the fall or she hadn't checked her clip. She tossed it to the ground and pulled her sword out again. The man realized she was attacking too late and when he turned around, Charlie slit his throat, not letting his blood spatter on her face bother her in the slightest.

She didn't even look at the couple before turning her head in the direction of Miles. He was fighting off three men and Rachel wasn't too far away fighting two others. Charlie rushed off in their direction, taking a knife from her back pocket and throwing it in the direction of one of the men going for Rachel. It hit him right between the eyes and he dropped to the ground with a thud. She then proceeded to engage the men going after Miles.

Used to fighting with Monroe, she went for the left to cover where his blind spot was. Only, Miles didn't have a blind spot and they both went for the same guy. This gave the other two an advantage and Charlie screamed as a sword bit into her side, tearing her flesh. She went down and saw Miles being thrown backwards in attempt to help her. The two men closest to her picked her up off the ground and began to run, still holding onto her.

"No!" Miles yelled and tried to go after her, but was forced to stay back as gunfire from behind them broke through the air.

From her position of being slung over the man's shoulder, Charlie could see her friends and family fading as the men continued to put distance between them. All too soon, they were out of sight and Charlie gave in to the pain and closed her eyes.

"We need to go after her!" Rachel yelled once the gunfire had stopped.

"No!" Miles yelled and grabbed her to hold her back.

"What do you mean no?"

"It's dark, they clearly have the advantage. We go after them now, we're all dead."

"But Charlie-"

"Is the Chosen One. Aaron will try to communicate with them and they can save her like they did in Trinidad. Right, Aaron?"

"On it," he said, sensing the urgency.

"Miles-"

"Until then, we continue on to Bradbury." He rushed on as Rachel opened her mouth to protest. "Those were Patriots. We're this close to our goal now and for all we know, that's where they took her." He paused and surveyed the rest of his group. "Everyone else okay?" He also wanted to get Monroe and break the news to him. Whatever was going on between him and Charlie was exactly that, between them, but he had a feeling his oldest friend should know what had happened here. Besides, if he was going into enemy territory, he desperately needed Sebastian Monroe by his side.

"Fine," Rachel said and moved to get her things, packing them into the wagon with a hurry.

Before they knew it, they were on the road again. This time with a sense of urgency.


	16. Chapter 16

**a/n: A big thank you to my readers who have been with this story from the beginning and those that have just now found it. Life has gotten so immensely crazy and I haven't had time to write a single thing. I've actually had 16 chapters ready to go for a long time, but have just now gotten around to posting. I am finally getting to some down time so I'm re-reading and getting to do more writing. Bear with me my amazing readers and I will have this story finished by the end of the year! (hopefully sooner!) Also, I plan on doing a sequel, but we shall see.**

SIXTEEN

For three solid days Connor and Monroe had lurked on the outskirts of the small town that was Bradbury, Idaho. They marveled at the lights that stayed on day and night and the way the people used the electricity as if it had never been turned off in the first place. Being so close to this much power made Monroe want to go down there and be a part of it, but he knew it would only get him killed. This was everything he had strived for when he was ruling his Republic, but Rachel had kept him from getting it. Looking back, he knew it was for the best.

They had decided not to risk going into town to spy on the Patriots. Instead, they stuck to the edges of where the power seemed to lose its hold and gathered what information they could that way. Needless to say, there wasn't much to report by the end of each of their attempts. There were only two things they knew for certain; the Nano's power was strong here and the number of Patriots was growing each time they looked at the town.

The lack of information and the sting of missing Charlie was making Monroe more stir crazy than ever before.

On the morning of third day of being in Bradbury, Monroe realized he would rather miss Charlie than be filled with the dreaded possibility of not being able to see her ever again.

It started with the sound of wagon wheels bouncing over the dirt path near where their camp was. Connor and Monroe both moved to make themselves harder to see, but still able to watch those that approached. They both put their weapons away at the sight of Miles holding the reins on the horses. Monroe stepped out of hiding first and gave his oldest friend a slight wave. A smile formed on his face as he realized Miles meant Charlie was seconds away from filling his vision.

He did see blonde hair from the back of the wagon, but it was too light and too short. His smile faded as he saw Rachel's worry and then realized Miles had a dreary expression as well. "Bass," Miles greeted, pulling the wagon over to the side. "Connor," he added as the younger man came out of hiding to greet the others.

Monroe nodded and looked around, panic rising. "Charlie not with you?" he tried his best to keep his voice steady, but he was far from successful.

"We were ambushed in Twin Falls," Aaron said as he and Priscilla came into view.

Miles watched the range of emotions that displayed on Monroe's face and was shocked at what he saw. He had seen the sadness, remorse, and love he had had for Emma; the love and joy he had had for Shelly as well as the utter devastation of losing them both, but he had never seen Sebastian Monroe like this before.

"Who took her? Where did they go? Why the hell did you not go after her?"

Rachel stared at Monroe for a second and then turned to glare at Miles.

Miles ignored her. "They were Patriots. They didn't say anything, they just showed up, starting shooting and when they had an opportunity, they grabbed Charlie and ran off. We..." he started, earning a snort from Rachel. "_I_ thought they would take her here and since we knew that's where you would be, I decided to continue."

"She's not here," Connor said lightly as he watched his father try and keep himself together.

"Goddamnit, Miles! She could be anywhere! She might even-"

"Please, Bass," Rachel cut in, her voice soft as she pleaded with him. "Please don't finish that sentence."

"What about Oregon?" Connor asked.

"What's in Oregon?" Priscilla questioned.

"A few days ago, Monroe heard some Patriots speaking with the Nano. They said something about reprograming centers being constructed in Arizona, Oregon, and Canada. They also said they wanted those responsible for taking down the Willoughby center to experience the course. They said Oregon was their biggest and the most successful one."

"Then that's where we'll start," Rachel said and moved to sit on the wagon again, but was stopped by Miles.

"You can't come."

"She's my daughter, Miles. _Our _daughter," she said, the last part low enough for only him to hear. "Of course I'm going."

"No," he demanded. "You're staying here to help Aaron and Priscilla with the Nano situation." He lowered his voice for her only. "I can't do what I need to when I'll have to worry about you too. Please."

"I'll try to draw the good Nano in and see if I can get them to send messages back and forth. If I can't communicate with you, at least I'll be able to tell Charlie help is on the way," Aaron suggested.

"Let's go," Connor said, reaching for his bag.

"You're not going either," Monroe said.

"What?"

"You need to make sure this lot stays alive and out of trouble until we get back." He didn't say anything else, the look on his face told Connor that there would be no arguing and if he pressed the issue, it would only end badly.

Connor scowled, but gave a curt nod.

Monroe gathered his things in a hurry while Rachel and Miles had their private goodbye. He went to the horses he and Connor had used as they had been more rested than the ones attached to the wagon. Miles watched the jerky movements Monroe made as he made an effort to contain his emotions. He turned away from him to focus on Rachel. He reached up to cup her face and smiled at her. "I'm coming back with our daughter. Alive and well." He didn't say anything else as he brought his lips down to hers for a brief moment and then pulled away.

"You better," she whispered after him.

Miles approached Monroe and put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him on the ground for a second longer. "You love her." It wasn't a question.

Monroe stilled for a moment and then turned to meet his friend's gaze. He wasn't going to play dumb with Miles or with himself this time. "Yes." There was no need to elaborate; Miles heard the sincerity in Monroe's voice, clear as day. Monroe hadn't realized or wanted to admit that that's what he had been feeling until this very moment. The thought of losing her for real made him aware that he wanted Charlie in every sense of the word.

Without saying anything else, he mounted his horse, Miles mimicking him a few seconds later. And with that, they were off to Oregon to save the one person that mattered more than themselves.

With the two of them gone, Priscilla, Aaron, and Rachel turned their gaze to Connor. "Anything special about this little town?" Aaron asked.

Connor couldn't help but grin. "Everything is special about this town," he said and beckoned for them to follow as he moved to show them the magic that was Bradbury, Idaho.

* * *

Charlie opened her eyes and instantly regretted the action as being awake meant being aware of the pain coursing through her body. She bit her lip to keep from crying out at as the ache in her side worsened by the second. She winced when she shifted, her arm having hit the side of the wagon she had been dumped in, causing another wave of pain from the bullet graze. She took a deep breath and blinked a few times, waiting for the pain to slowly ebb as she became numb to it. Once she could focus on other things, she began to look at the other people in the wagon with her.

They were on the move as was obvious by the turbulence and slight shift of her body every few seconds. The wagon she was in was caged, complete with a door that was locked from the outside. There was a very thin cover over the bars; enough to keep their presence unknown for the outside world, but allowed Charlie to tell that it was early morning. Inside, there were five other people, all of which were about her age and covered in filth and blood. One man in particular looked as though he had been beaten recently, his left eye almost swollen shut and bruised. All of them had their legs and wrists bound together. Charlie looked down to see that she had been treated the same way.

She leaned her head back against the wall of the wagon and sighed, the memories of being taken washing over her. She swallowed thickly and forced herself into a better sitting position. She turned slightly so that she could roll up her shirt and see the damage that had been done. Her eyes widened as she saw a wound; just not one she'd expected to see. She had seen deep cuts on others and how they continually bled for days after appearing, only crusting over and beginning to heal many, many days later, but not this one. This one appeared to be almost healed; all that remained was a jagged line that would turn into a scar, bruising, and dried blood.

"We healed you."

Charlie jumped slightly, groaning at the pain the action caused. She turned her head to the side and went still at the sight of Danny sitting casually by her side. "Thank you," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke. She immediately looked around to see if the others had heard her, but if they had, none of them gave any indication.

As if he was reading her thoughts, he smiled and shook his head. "We are projecting another image and blocking our interaction from the others."

She swallowed and it quickly turned into a cough as she realized how parched she was. "If you're here to rescue me, we can go now."

The smile wavered from his face and Charlie felt her heart sink into her stomach. This was not a rescue. "They are taking you to a reprograming center. This is our chance to get into their domain and see what we are up against."

She felt sick as the image of Jason floated through her mind, his stomach blossoming red from her having pulled the trigger. "I thought that being the Chosen One-"

"We will protect you while you are inside," he assured her.

"What if you can't? What if-"

"You have to trust us, Charlotte."

"Forgive me, but sending me to a reprograming center doesn't inspire much trust," she spat.

The look on Danny's face was cold yet impassive and it pained Charlie to see it. "You will endure much while you are there, that is true, but it is for the greater good. In order to stop the others from wiping out humanity, we need to be able to see how they intend to do it. We will be there when you need us to heal you."

"Did you intentionally get me kidnapped?" she asked, looking Nano-Danny straight in the eyes.

"No."

The Nano didn't lie so she knew he was telling the truth, but it still stung. "What happens when I get reprogramed? I'm Charlie Matheson; I'm going to be their biggest success."

"They will not be successful."

"How-"

"Trust us," he demanded and then disappeared from sight.

Charlie took a deep breath and ground her teeth, forcing herself not to shed any tears even though her vision blurred from watering eyes. Knowing what was in store for her along with the pain made it impossible to keep from throwing up. She forced herself to lean over pushed back the cover of the wagon enough to retch over the bars. She wiped her lips on her sleeve and settled down again, looking at the others. All of them were about to becoming killing machines; destroying anyone in their paths because someone was too cowardly to do it themselves.

She snorted as she realized the new Nano was exactly like the old. They were using her under the guise of being labeled as chosen and sending her into the worst place to be; all in the name of winning. Her heart wrenched as she dwelled on what was to come and wondered what would happen to her. Her fears got the better of her and for the first time in a long time, Charlie felt tears stream down her cheeks.

"I cried the first night I was thrown in here too," came a soft voice from her left.

Charlie wiped at her eyes and blinked to look at the only other girl in the wagon. She had short dark hair and dark eyes, her skin an olive brown smeared with dirt, along with clothes that had definitely seen better days. "How long have you been here?"

"Almost two weeks. I was the first one. They grabbed me in Cheyenne."

"The others?"

"Along the way. They had more, but most were too beaten or sick so they were left behind to die."

"How many of them are there?" Charlie asked, nodding to the front of the wagon.

"Not many."

Charlie felt the smallest twinges of hope at that. Her lips cracked as she smiled slightly. "I'm Charlie."

"Kate."

"Tell me everything about our captor's routine."

"Why?"

"Because if I'm going to get us out of here, I need to know what they do before they do it."

Kate looked doubtful, but began to tell Charlie what she wanted to know. With that, Charlie began to plan their escape. To hell with the "good" Nano; there was no way she was going to a reprograming center, not while she still had a fighting chance at getting back to her family. With that, she began planning their escape.


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n: Hey guys! I'm SOOOOOO sorry that this took this long! I'm determined to finish it because there isn't that much left to this story. I do still intend to follow up with a sequel, one that I will make sure I have plenty of material for before I leave you all hanging again!**

**So...I wrote this at work where apparently spell/grammar check is not a thing, so bare with me for all mistakes, I'm sure there are a few.**

SEVENTEEN

If Miles had wanted to stop, he kept it to himself, allowing Monroe to push on. Day and night blurred together as they rode, but there was still no sign of Charlie or her captors anywhere. It wasn't until they hit the town of Ontario, Oregon that they came across Patriots. Whether or not they were under Nano control was something Monroe intended to find out as well as if Salem was where Charlie would be or not.

The duo spent a full day scouting the town, finding out whatever they could about the enemy within. As night began to fall, they met at their rendezvous point. Miles was already there as Monroe entered the abandoned shop, taking a much needed drink from a bottle of bourbon he had found during his scouting mission. "Find anything?" Monroe asked, his tone clipped.

"That these are indeed Patriots, but they don't appear to be influenced by the Nano. I didn't overhear anything useful other than that they holed up here waiting for their next orders." Miles tipped the bottle towards him and Monroe took it without question. "I didn't even get a good sense of who was in charge. What about you? Find anything different?"

Monroe drank deeply, feeling the burn work its way down his throat. It was a much needed momentary distraction from the worry and rage that fueled him. "No," he grumbled and rolled his shoulders before taking another drink. "Not a goddamn thing."

"Bass-"

"Just as I told you we wouldn't," Monroe interrupted. "We're not going to find anything out by lurking around corners. We tried it your way and it didn't work. Now we're going to do things my way."

Miles sighed as he took the bottle away from his friend. He studied Monroe as he began to pace the length of the empty room, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't seen Monroe act like this since he had been the leader of his own empire. While he was glad that the former General was directing his rage at finding his...Charlie, he hated seeing this side of Monroe. He was never sure if the new Monroe would come back or not.

"Then we need to find their leader."

"We can just keep grabbing and torturing until we find said leader."

"Bass-"

Monroe stopped and turned to look at Miles. "We're in a time crunch."

Miles shook his head and straightened his stance. "You don't think I know that? I'm fully aware of what's at stake and that there isn't a lot of time, but we can't just go on a killing spree to gain information. If there's one thing I did learn while trying to get information is that we're vastly outnumbered."

"We-"

"At one time we could have handled this no problem, but we're not as young as we used to be and we're the only hope Charlie has at coming home. Be smart about this, Bass." For the first time since leaving Bradbury, Miles thought he saw a smile tug at Monroe's lips. But if it had actually been the beginnings of a smile, it was gone faster than Miles could blink and the General was back. Miles sighed as he added, "Just keep in mind that just because we didn't get a sense of Nano doesn't mean they aren't working with them anyway."

Monroe gave him a sideways glance. "As you so eloquently put it, I wasn't born yesterday. Let's start planning; we start at sundown."

* * *

The attempt to escape was over before it had even truly began.

Charlie watched as Kate's body hit the ground with a thud, her blood darkening the ground and turning the dirt into mud. A groan escaped her lips as one of her captors pushed her up against the wagon, her cheek tearing from the rough contact with the metal bars. Once her vision cleared, she saw the other captives being loaded roughly back into the wagon. Their attempt to help Charlie and Kate had been feeble, but at least they had tried. She and Kate were the only two who were capable of fighting, but even then it wasn't enough; something that wasn't clear to Charlie until it was too late.

"You don't think others haven't tried this before?" the Patriot's voice was gruff against her ear.  
Charlie refused to say anything.

She could see his grin from the corner of her eye and felt his hand wandering down over her hips. "You are a prisoner; you will do whatever we say and-"

His words were cut off as someone pulled him off of Charlie. She turned enough to see another one of her captives pushing her would be assailant away. "That's enough, Lieutenant," he said, his voice hard. "Prisoner or not, you are not doing that."

Charlie struggled to stay on her feet, leaning against the wagon for support. She struggled to catch her breath and forced herself not to look at Kate's body on the ground a few feet away. She could smell the blood, but she wasn't sure if it was Kate's or her own.

"Fine," the other said before disappearing.

The Patriot that had "saved" Charlie moved forward and grabbed her, pulling her towards him. "I don't tolerate rape, but you can rest assured I don't tolerate escape attempts either. Try that shit again and I don't care how valuable you are, I will kill you. Understand?"

"We'll see," she managed to get out. It only earned her another blow to the face. Charlie spit blood out of her mouth and turned to stare at the soldier with dead eyes. He turned her around, giving her one last look at Kate's mangled body. Charlie's eyes closed as the solider shoved her into the wagon with the others before locking the door.

Regret washed over her yet again as she thought of the dead body just outside the wagon. If she had given it more thought...

"Why?" came a throaty whisper from one of the other captives, pulling her from her inner torment.  
"Why what?" Charlie returned.

"If you had just kept to yourself, she would still be alive."

Charlie snorted. "Trust me, she's better off. When you get where we're going, you'll have wished you were either dead or had escaped too."

There was only silence after that, one that continued even after the wagon had lurched into motion. Once they were on the road, Charlie allowed herself to relax and closed her eyes, wondering just how much longer she would have to endure this and how much worse it would be once they reached their destination.

* * *

Monroe could feel the heat coming from Miles' stare as he hauled the Patriot into their makeshift interrogation spot. Had things gone according to their oh so well thought out plans, Miles woudn't be rubbing the budding bruise on his jaw. He knew he should appologize to his friend; his emotions had overwhelmed him. When it seemed like the guard was going to get away, Monroe reacted faster than he ever had before and Miles had gotten hurt in the process.

Miles spat blood off to the side and gave a quick roll of his neck before moving close to Monroe and the guard. He knew they had to act fast and tie this guy up before he regained conciousness. This guy was younger than they were and it was hard enough to get him where he was in the first place. Sure, he and Monroe were strong, but this guy spry and quick. They might have had the strength to knock him out flat, but the element of surprise was gone now.

As Miles moved forward, he did a sideways glance at Monroe and let his thoughts wander yet again. Ever since Monroe had said that he loved Charlie, Miles felt himself wondering what exactly had led up to that. Especially now that he knew Charlie was his daughter and not just his neice. Granted, he had begun to suspect something was going on between the two of them back at the old church when they had faked their doom. It had been strange and tense when Monroe had fallen for Emma and he had seen how his friend had changed with Shelly. Miles wondered what their friendship would be like now; especailly if something happened to Charlie. Miles didn't think he could handle losing Monroe again; not after almost getting him back the last time.

Miles was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of Monroe snapping his fingers at him. "You okay over there?"  
"Yeah, let's do this," he replied. No sooner had the words left his mouth did Miles see the change happen in Monroe. The general from the Monroe Republic was the man standing in front of him now, not his friend. However, in order to get information about Charlie, he was willing to let that form of Monroe take charge.

Monroe moved to stand behind the Patriot and then reached around to pinch his nose with one hand. With the other hand, he shoved a wad of material into the man's mouth and clamped his palm over it. Both men waited the few short seconds it took before the Patriot's body started to become aware of the lack of oxygen it was receiving. He began to struggle beneath the restraints, but id did him no good. Soon, his eyes opened and realized the danger he was in, but Monroe refused to let up. Only when his resistance started to fade did he remove his hand from the man's nose. "If you try to scream for help, I will kill you and find someone else," he threatened.

The man nodded and gasped heavily for air as Monroe removd his hand and the material in his mouth, finally allowing him to breathe. "I'll never tell you anything," he stated between gasps, his voice raspy.

Miles couldn't help but smirk with Monroe. Sure, he sounded convincing, but under the display of layalty and stength, there was fear. For someone to have fear in their voice at this point during an interrogation meant it would be over soon. However, something feared this easily and given his age didn't leave Miles with much hope after all. Those types of soldiers weren't usually givn important inforamtion, they kind that they were desperate for.  
"We'll see," Monroe said, his voice void of emotion.

"I know who you are."

"Good for you."

"They'll know I'm not on my post and they'll track me down."

Monroe's lips curved into a deadly smile. "We're counting on that."

"I-"

Monroe's fist connected with the Patriot's jaw in the blink of an eye, silencing him instantly. "We don't have time for the usual back and forth. We came here for information and if we can't get it from you, we'll have to get it from someone else."

The Patriot stared from Miles to Monroe before spitting blood to the gound. "Whatever it is, I'm not giving up that easily. You'll have to do better than that punch."

Monroe looked at Miles who simply shrugged. When Monroe turned back towards the prisoner, he reached for his knife. The gleam of the blade from the sliver of moonlight made the Patriot swallow hard. "If you insist," he said, raising it up with the intention of slashing down.

"No!" he shouted.

Monroe stopped the blade, his tip dangerously close to the top of his thigh. "I want information of Charlotte Matheson. She was taken less than a week ago. Where is she?"

Hope propelled Miles to his feet as the young Patriot's emotions danced across his face. "You know something," Miles whispered.

"News of a most wanted capture travels fast," he responded, his voice on the quieter side. "News of a Matheson travels even faster."

"Where is she?" Monre repeated.

The smile that took hold of the young man left both older men filled with dread. "You're going to kill me whether or not I tell you, but it won't matter. You'll never get to her in time."

Miles saw the way Monroe's hand twitched at that statement. Had he not known the former General so well he wouldn't have noticed it in the first place.

"She's in Salem, Oregon. She'll be reprogrammed soon and she'll be our greatest success."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, Monroe lashed out. The knife tore through his throat and the blood flowed freely. The two men watched as the life drained from his body. When it was over, Monroe wiped the blade and replaced it in its sheath. Now that they had a destination, it was time to head out and hope that the Patriot was wrong. Not saying anything, they turned their back on the body and took their leave.


	18. Chapter 18

**a/n: Alrighty, this one was a little lacking, I know, BUT...we're getting closer to the finale :)**

Eighteen

Rachel knew their days here were numbered. Each day they stayed loitering around the town of Bradbury brought more stress and more questions. Priscilla and Aaron, being the non warrior types that they were, were more than anxious to leave. Conner wanted nothing to do with them and spent more and more time away from the group. Rachel knew it was only a matter of time before he never came back to them.

It had been over a week since she had seen Monroe and Miles leave on their quest to rescue her daughter. There hadn't been any news since. Aaron had tried several times to get in contact with the good Nano and see what was going on, but every attempt other than the initial one was a failure. For all she knew, they were dead somewhere on the West Coast.

Over the last two days, the town of Bradbury had been especially dull. No one new had been spotted entering the grounds. there was only two things that could mean. That the big event they were waiting for was about to happen or that Bradbury had never meant anything significant to begin with. Given the electricity flowing freely through this place, Rachel was betting on the former option rather than the latter.

With that in mind, Rachel and Aaron had agreed that a closer investigation of the town would need to happen. They formed a plan together and chose to wait until nightfall on a night when Conner was supposed to be back and act it out. Unfortunately, Conner wasn't much for sleeping these days and woke the moment they tried to slip out of camp.

"Where do you two think you're going?" he demanded.

"Just for a walk," Rachel stated.

He smiled, but there was no humor in it. "I'm sure."

"We'll be back soon, Conner. Can you just stay here and keep Priscilla safe?"

"She's been a part of this blackout since the beginning, same as us. She should be more than capable of watching her own back out here. If she isn't by now..." he let his voice trail off, knowing Aaron understood his implications.  
Rachel stared at him, studying his face. The more she looked, the more he reminded her of Monroe. The more time he spent away, the easier it was not to think of that evil man and the fact he had defiled her daughter. "Conner-"  
He shook his head and snorted. "Enjoy your walk," he said and turned his back on them.

Rachel exchanged a glance with Aaron and nodded towards the town. "Come on," she said in a hushed voice. With that, they ventured into town to search for a computer.

* * *

Three days.

That was how long Charlie had been in the hell what was Salem, Oregon. Time creeped along, made even worse by the lack of sleep and food. The moment the wagon had pulled behind the fence to the reprograming center, guards had dragged her from it and placed her into isolation. She didn't even want to speculate on what had become of the others in the wagon.

Her captors would visited her regularly, but the times were always sporadic. Either way, they would enter and the sessions would begin. They methods would alter frequently, but it was always the same three ways; water boarding, being beaten, or electrocuted. It would always start the same though. They would ask her for her name, her purpose, and her opinion on a range of issues. Each time she answered truthfully, she was rewarded with pain from of those three ways. She knew what they wanted to hear their thoughts become her own, but Charlie would rather die in his place than give them the satisfaction of winning.

So on the third day when the two Patriots came in and hauled her to her feet, she didn't think anything of it. It was when they pulled her out of the room and into the blinding light of the sun that she knew today would be different. The rays felt warm on her skin and she took a deep breath of fresh air. Normally, the sensory overload of being confined to amost absolute darkness to midday sunshine would have been painful. However, thanks to her last gift from the Nano, Charlie's eyes adjusted instantly and she smiled faintly at the edge it gave her.

The feeling of having the upper hand was dashed the moment she was pulled through another door and she realized what she was seeing. Instead of more ways to torture her, this room was set up like a hospital. There were trays of untensils next to several steel tables all ready for use. The strangest part about this place was the hum of electricity; something Charlie didn't ever think she would hear again. The room she had been placed in hadn't had any. Given that she was but a child when the lights went out, she was amazed she recognized the sound at all.  
"Charlotte Matheson," came a woman's voice off to the right.

Charlie turned slightly to see her. She was wearing extremely clean clothes; almost too clean. Her hair was perfectly done up, not a strand out of place. Her face was expressionless and it left CHarlie filled with a sense of dread. "Last I checked," she muttered.

Her cold green eyes turned towards the guards who had their hands digging rougly into Charlie's biceps. "Your services will not be needed in here. You may stand guard outside."

They inclined their heads and abruptly took their leave. Weak, Charlie forced herself to stay upright, rocked by the sudden loss of stability. She tried her best not to let it show as she didn't want to give any sign of weakness. "That was brave of you. Foolish, even."

"If you could run, you would have by now. Besides, we have power here. There's no getting out unless we allow it. You're more than welcome to try if you don't believe me." She turned her back on Charlie then. The urge to make a break for it was strong, but lasted only an instant as she realized the woman was right. "My name is Anita."

Charlie didn't respond. Instead, she took a few careful sweeping glances around the room. She didn't know what to expect and even knowing the good Nano said they wouldn't allow definative harm to come to her, Charlie was still filled with unease.

"You have one of the strongest wills I have ever come across. Nothing seems to be working on you."  
"I would rather die than be bent."

"How noble," Anita responded, unimpressed. "I even told the others that those methods were very outdated and would not work. It is the reason we built this place afterall. Yet, they insist on trying every singl time." She turned towards Charlie and offered a cruel smile. "My methods have yet to fail me."

"What are your methods?" she asked. Anita's face lit up with surprise for a fleeing second. "If you're as good as you claim, I won't remember this conversation anyway."

She composed herself and tipped her head. "The old reprograming centers worked well. We would torture and test the minds of the young and then use a serum to make them forget. They would remember the pain and that we nursed them back to health. Soon they would lose themselves and all that remained would be a shell. The perfect killing machine. We were the ones that saved them, why not want to do anything we ask?"

Charlie said nothing as she waited for Anita to continue.

"Torture, while effective, is not ideal for the new and improvd centers such as these. The Nano want to get to know the human body inside and out. Our goal is to merge the two and create super soldiers. We have had many failures as human bodies are much weaker than we anticipated. The Nano are so powerful that the human body could not handle it and decayed quickly. To those that do survive, the Nano have been generous with their gifts. Gifts that only been imagined in the creative minds of old."

Charlie thought of the things the Nano had bestowed her with and shuddered slightly. If Anita had truly come up with a way to make Patriots into super soldiers, the world was doomed. The power would come back on, but the world would be darker than ever before.

Anita watched as Charlie processed her thoughts. When the shadow of defeat began to present itself, she gestured towards a table and smiled. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Miles woke to the sound of a cough. It caused him to jump to alertness. As he looked around, he only saw Monroe leaning against one of the trees that provided their shelter. He had his head tilted up, looking at the starts, lost in thought. "Didn't mean to wake you," he said, not bothering to turn towards Miles.

"It's fine," he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

They were silent for awhile, staring at the world around them. Miles kept finding himself stealing glances at Monroe. He wanted to ask about Charlie, but at the same time, he didn't want to know. As if sensing his thoughts, Monroe broke the silence first.

"Is it weird for you?"

"Very."

Monroe finally turned his attention towards Miles. "I didn't plan for this to happen."

"I figured that much," Miles answered. Silence seemed to take hold again, but Miles had had enough of that this past week with him. "Does she love you back?"

"Yes." There wasn't any hesitation or doubt in his voice as he answered.

"She's my daughter, Bass." The words were out of his mouth faster than he could blink. Since Rachel had dropped that bomb on him he had been left to process it on his own. Sure, she would answer questions, but he needed someone other than Rachel to discuss it with. Someone to vent to.

Monroe's eyes went round like saucers as he stared at Miles. "What?"

"Apparently Ben was sterile and was never able to have children. They got tested at a fertility clinic around the time Rachel and I were having our affair. She found out about Ben right after she found out she was pregnant with Charlie. She never told him and I only found out a few weeks ago. Danny was my son too."

Monroe swallowed apprehensively. "Miles-"

"Don't." Miles offered a small smile and shook his head. "Let's not bring that up, Bass. It won't do either of us any good."

He nodded and changed the subject back to Rachel. "How could she keep that kind of information to herself all these years? You had a right to know."

"I know," he said, shrugging. "It would have been nice to know a long time ago. Things would have been severly different."

"That fucking bitch," Monroe mumbled, earning a half smile from Miles. "But, you love her anyway."

Miles nodded. "I do."

Monroe raked a hand through his hair and let a grin take hold of his lips. "Well, how weird is it for you now?"

Miles laughed for the first time in a long time. "Pretty fucking weird. My best friend is in love with my daughter who I always thought was my neice. Coincidentally the same best friend who killed the boy who I thought was my nephew, but is actually my son."

"Don't forget the part where we once loved the same girl."

"Ah, almost left that one out."

With all the stress of the last few months, years even, it felt good to be this relaxed with his best friend again. Even though they knew they had to do ahead of them, most of which would most likely be bad, they needed this little interruption to recharge. They talked and reminisced through the night, felling like old times were upon them.

* * *

Everything had been easy. Too easy. They had found a computer and had gotten into the system no problem. The only thing that wasn't easy was navigating the older systems trying to find anything related to Bradbury, the Nano, or the Patriots. After a few hours of nothing, Aaron and Rachel decided to turn back towards their makeshift camp.  
The moment they arrived, Priscilla launched herself at Aaron, her arms winding tightly around his neck. "You're back!" she exclaimed.

"Where's Conner?" Aaron asked, looking around.

Rachel already knew that answer. Conner was long gone. As Aaron comforted Priscilla, Rachel thought of how Monroe was going to take that news. A part of her felt sorry for him. Conner was his only son, but the other part of her felt nothing at all. She turned away from the pair and tried to not think about Monroe at all as thinking of him made her think of Charlie and Miles.

"Rachel," Aaron's voice was soft at her side.

"He's not coming back."

"We didn't learn anything and if this truly is where something bad is bound to happen, we aren't the right people to intervene. I think we should go."

"Go where?" she asked. "I'm not leaving until we know something about Charlie and Miles."

"Rachel..." his voice begging her to understand and agree with him.

"Just a few more days," she whispered, her voice just as desperate.

He took a moment to think about it, but nodded. "A few more days," he agreed.

* * *

Monroe stared at the clear sky while Miles slept again. They had talked right up until he couldn't talk anymore, letting sleep get the better of him. Monroe envied him and his ability to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he envisioned Charlie in mortal danger and every time he was unable to save her. He kept going over the day she had left and he wished he hadn't let her go without him. And just like that, he was thinking about her again and letting his mind wander into dark territory.

Luckily for him, his thoughts were cut short as he detected a faint green light flickering off to the side. He turned to see it and knew instantly that it was Nano. But not just any Nano, Charlie's Nano. He couldn't explain how he knew, it was just a gut feeling he got when he saw them. More and more approached until they were swarming around Miles and Monroe. Slowly, he got to his feet and nudged Miles in the shoulder. Miles woke with a start, but caught on to the situation fairly quickly and got to his feet as well. They both watched as the Nano began to swirl together, creating a shape that neither men thought they would ever see again.

Emma.

There was only enough Nano to conjure half a person. Emma stood before them, strangely transparent with a waist that tapered off into nothingness like a ghost from the movies. "Hello," she said, her voice nothing like their memories and deviod of all emotions.

"What do you want?" Monroe asked.

"You are close."

"To Charlie? We know," Miles said.

Her head inclined ever so slightly at that. "We ask that you let us save her on our own. We need her to complete this task in order to fulfill her destiny as the Chosen One. If you pull her out too soon it will ruin all that we have worked for thus far."

"No offense, but I'm not risking her life for your mission," Monroe snapped.

"If you go to her, you will be the one to-" her voice stopped and NanoEmma faded for a second like a glitch.

"I will be the one to what?" Monroe asked, stepping forward.

"You've been warned," she said sternly and disappeared.

"No!" Monroe yelled at the sky as the swarm of flickering Nano flew away. "Come back and finish that thought you little electronic bastards!"

Miles' hand on his shoulder brought him out of his rage, but his heart was beating like a wild beast against his chest. "They have their agenda and we have ours. We'll get her and she'll be okay. Bass, don't lose focus. We'll get her." Miles watched as Monroe began to calm down. He walked away from the shelter and Miles let out a deep breath. "We'll get her," he repeated for his own benefit. "We have to."


	19. Chapter 19

**a/n: Some of you might be able to guess where this is going. For the rest of you...it all happens in the next installment**

NINETEEN

It was getting harder and harder to remember that she was the Chosen One. Ever since Anita had started the reprograming her way, Charlie couldn't help but feel that it was working. Her mind was hazy as she tried to hold on to memories. There were moments when she felt like her old self, but those moments were becoming too spaced out. Even now, as she sat in her cell, Charlie couldn't help the nausea that took over. She turned to the side and emptied what little bit of contents were in her stomach as the previous session played in her head for the thousandth time since being done.

Charlie felt hot tears on her cheeks and wiped furiously at them, wanting them off of her face. She took a deep breath and forced herself to crawl away from the vomit on the floor. She crawled until her arms folded in on her. Only then did she flop onto her back and stare up at the darkened ceiling. She missed the days where the Patriot thugs would come in and beat her, or try to deprive her of oxygen; hell, she even missed the sting of electricity running through her body as they hit her with the probe over and over again. All of that she could handle and remain strong.

The things Anita did to her...Charlie wasn't sure if she would be able to come back from this. Even if the good Nano made good on their promise to undo whatever it was the bad Nano forced upon her, Charlie didn't think it would be enough.

At first, Anita had her lie back on one of the tables, the cold of the stainless steel made her bones ache. She had hooked Charlie up to little machines that measured vitals. Charlie shuddered as she remembered the steady beating sound; a memory that made her stomach tighten again. After her vitals were noted in Anita's journal, the real work began. Anita would bring the utensil tray closer. Charlie closed her eyes as she remembered the cold of the scalpel biting into her skin.

A muffled cry escaped Charlie's lips as she remembered the pain of the blade dragging down her arm. The room began to swirl as she relived the nausea she had felt on the table. Being as weak as she had been that day, it hadn't taken long for Charlie to pass out. Unfortunately, Anita wanted her victims to be awake for the experience and Charlie jumped as she remembered the poke of the andrenaline filled needed being shoved into her chest. Remembering the rush it gave her had Charlie rolling onto her side and heaving again.

As she emptied the remnants of her stomach, the memories of Anita's treatments played in her mind like an old movie with a scratch on it. First it would skip to being cut some more. Then Anita leaving her bleeding on the table, refusing to cry. When Anita would be standing beside her again, it was to shove things into her body and sew her back together. At first, Charlie worried that Anita would notice this and wonder more about her as the good Nano had gifted her with quick regeneration, but it seemed to please Anita even more that she healed so fast each and every time.

She never questioned what Anita was putting inside of her; she knew she wouldn't get any answers from her once they had started. In fact, the other woman hadn't said a word to Charlie since they began. However, from the things that were happening to her, the way her vision and memories had been altered, she knew it was Nanotech being put into her body. Just as Anita had said, she was being subjected to fusion experimentation; human and Nano together as one.

Charlie laughed bitterly and collapsed, her face barely missing the pile of freshly made vomit. She had a strong will and she was more than determined to leave this place as herself or dead. That mentality was getting harder to keep up and the urge to give in was oh so tempting. For the first time since being brought to this place, Charlie allowed the tears to flow freely, sobbing as she wished desperately for her weakness to overcome everything and take her away. She cried until she couldn't any more and once her eyes were too heavy to keep open, she let herself drift off into sleep.

* * *

They had passed a sign stating that they were less than fifty miles away from Salem, Oregon and ever since, both men had been on edge. Miles was anxious to rescue Charlie and take down the people that had taken her from him. More than that, he was anxious to see her for the first time knowing her as his daughter. He knew Monroe would be feeling even more tense about it the closer they got. Miles wasn't sure about how strange it would be witnessing their reunion, but he pushed that thought aside as they made their camp for the night. It had taken a lot of convincing to stop here, but in the end, Monroe knew he was right and gave in. There was no since in going into town when they were exhausted. Miles had argued that it would be better to go riding off into enemy territory after a good night's sleep. As much as he wanted to barge in there, they needed to do this the smart way, not overcome with emotions.

They had found a house on the outskirts of town and decided to sleep there for the night. Miles had taken the master leaving Bass one of the kids rooms. It was fine because he hadn't planned on sleeping anyway. He knew he needed the rest, but the moment Miles had shut the bedroom door, Monroe knew his thoughts would get the better of him. He let out a sign as he raked a hand through his hiar and made his way towards the front door of the house. Being inside made him felt caged and he knew it would only make his feelings worse. At least taking a lap or twenty around the house might take the edge off and make him tired enough for sleep.

He wondered what Charlie was going through and what state of mind she would be in when they found her. He could only imagine what kind of hell she would be pushed into. The thought of anyone hurting her made his blood boil with rage. He forced himself not to think about it, instead focusing on what it would take to nurse her back to health. As long as Charlie was still alive, nothing else mattered. He would be there every step of the way, helping her any way she would let him.

He closed his eyes and tried to picture her the way she had been the moment before she left. He could feel the way her body warmly pressed against his, the feel of his hand wrapped tightly in her hair. The ghost of her kiss left his lips tingling. For a second the world was right again.

Then Monroe opened his eyes and the world stopped as she stood there before him, plain as day.

"Charlie?" he breathed.

* * *

Aaron had wandered away from the two women to relieve himself one last time before waking Rachel for her shift. It had been their second night here since Conner took off and he wanted to approach the topic of leaving again too, but he knew what Rachel's response would be. Not that he could blame her either; it was her entire family that was gone. Aaron had wanted to leave for selfish reasons. He was done with the Nano. They had been nothing but bad; the complete opposite of what he had designed them for. The thought that something bad was going to happen here in Bradbury alongside all of these controlled Patriots made him want to flee. He had helped figure out why the power had gone out and if it could be turned on, but it wasn't worth it anymore. The fighting was getting to him and all he wanted to do was take his wife somewhere safe, settle down, and live out the remainder of his years in peace.

As usual, that thought was nothing but a pipe dream. Something that was made very clear in the time that it took him to blink again.

A scream tore through the air. It was close enough to let him know danger was around, but not close enough for it to be Priscilla or Rachel. He hurried back to the girls and found that they had both stirred from the scream as well. "You two okay?"

"It wasn't us," Rachel said, getting to her feet.

Another scream. Another. Soon they were surrounded by the sounds of terror ringing out through what had been a quiet night.

"They're coming from the town," Priscilla pointed out.

"We should go check it out," Rachel said.

"No. We should move further out or stay here."

They didn't have to go anywhere to see what all the fuss was about. The smell of charred flesh hit their noses and the smoke made the air around them thick. "What's happening?" Priscilla asked, her eyes wide with concern as she covered her mouth with the collar of her shirt.

Rachel shook her head and began gathering their things. Whatever it was, it wasn't good and Aaron was right. "We need to move," she said. The others followed suit.

Unfortunately, their run and hide plan didn't last for too long as people began to emerge from the town limits. Some were able to run, others were stumbling, but all of them were on fire to some degree. Priscilla turned away, leaning against Aaron as the scene unfolded. Rachel and Aaron were unable to look away. More and more people came towards them, but none made it very far. Soon the screaming stopped and was replaced by the sound of glass shattering and other sounds of a raging fire from within the city. Before they knew it, there was a pile of dead bodies before them, some of which were still burning.

"What the hell was that?" Aaron asked, looking at Rachel as if she had all the answers.

"I don't know, but we shouldn't be here to find out. At least not right now. Let's go." And with that, they left to find new shelter.

* * *

Charlie could sense that something was different even before her eyes opened. She felt normal; too normal. The air around her seemed calm and serene and when she opened her eyes, she quickly knew why. She was standing in a field and Maggie was standing before her. They were just outside of their little village, a place she never thought she would ever see again. Maggie smiled at Charlie once she realized the younger girl was aware of her presence.

"How nice of you to grace me with your presence," Charlie snapped.

"They are trying to place Bad Nano tech inside of you and hope that it merges. They intend to turn you into a super soldier to excute orders at their command."

"They're distorting my memories with their bullshit experiments and it's working."

"If we healed you each and every night they would grow suspicious. Because they are not, we are able to help you now. If they had their guard up, chosen or not, we would be of no help. We will heal you enough to continue for a few more days. Then we will strike."

"I don't really have that kind of time."

Maggie smiled, but as usual with Nano-copies, it didn't reach her eyes. Charlie found it harder to look at her as the memories of their life together began to play through her mind. Without saying anything in response, she moved forward and took Charlie's hands in hers. Her eyes closed against the bright light and Charlie felt the heat spread through her body as the healing process began. Normally it was over quick, but it lasted a tad bit longer, leaving her with some questions.

"What did you do?" she asked, removing her hands from Maggie's when it was over.

"Gave you the means to fulfill your destiny."

"Meaning...?"

"All in due time."

Charlie rolled her eyes and shifted her weight. "If I truly am the Chosen One and you have every intention of saving me for saving you, I want you to do something for me."

"Name it."

"I want to see Bass."

Maggie seemed to consider it for a second and then inclined her head. "Close your eyes. I cannot promise you a lot of time, but I can promise some."

Charlie closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was standing a few feet away from Monroe. He was staring at her as if she was a ghost. "Charlie?"

His voice saying her name was all it took. She ran to him, the force of which nearly took them both off their feet when they collided. "Bass," she breathed against his chest. His arms wound around her back tightly. They clung to each other desperately and Charlie couldn't help it as some of her tears wet his shirt.

"How is this possible?"

"Nano."

He pulled away abruptly, his eyes filled with terror. "What?"

"I'm not dead," she said, realizing what it looked like to him. "I'm alive. This is just a good faith gesture from the Good Nano. I don't know how much time I have."

"Are you okay? What are they doing to you?"

"They're trying to merge me with the Bad Nano and get me to be a soldier on their side. It's working." The last part she said with fear in her voice.  
Monroe felt the rage in him at that. He never expected to hear fear from Charlie and it made it even worse that she was going to end up going back to it soon. He pulled her back in for another tight hug. "Miles and I are close. We should be there tomorrow afternoon and we'll have you rescued before the day is over."

Charlie pulled away, shaking her head. "No."

"What do you mean no?"

"I don't want you guys anywhere near Salem. The Good Nano have a plan and it's already in place. Please, Bass, I don't want you, Miles, or the others anywhere near that place."

"The others are in Bradbury while we came to get you."

Charlie's eyes went wide at that. "That's not good, they're planning on destroying that town soon. If they haven't already. They sent Patriots there to get rid of any obstacles. It was only a select few."

Monroe felt sick at that, but refocused the topic to Charlie. "We're getting you out."

She shook her head. "Please, Bass. I don't want it to be like Jason all over again."

They both jumped as she took a deep breath and stepped back. She was beginning to fade just like the visions of the Nano did. "We're going to rescue you, Charlie."

"Bass-"

He cut her off by surging forward and pressing his lips against hers, kissing her until she disappeared. When she was gone, Monroe closed his eyes and reveled in the fact that she was alive. As he headed back into the house, he couldn't think of anything else but having her in his arms like that for as long as he wanted. The next twenty-four hours would be prove to be the longest and most difficult of his entire life.


	20. Chapter 20

**a/n: Oh cliffhangers!**

TWENTY

Neither one of them could hardly sleep after witnessing something like the terrors of the previous night. The three of them had found shelter further away from the town limits and didn't even risk lighting a fire in case it wasn't over. When the first light of morning hit, Rachel suggested they scout the area and see what they could find. She was a little surprised when Priscilla and Aaron both agreed without any form of protest.

Unfortunately, the light didn't make things any better. In fact, it made it much worse. The sun made it easier to see the damage; all the burned flesh and charred rubble. Priscilla had to stop and throw up more than once and it was all Rachel could do not to follow suit. Aaron, however, did give in on occasion, but he wasn't in hysterics like his wife.

"What the hell happened here?" Aaron asked as the trail of bodies began increasing.

"Was it Nano tech?" Priscilla asked.

Rachel shook her head. "It could have been the Nano, but that doesn't make any sense because they were working alongside the Patriots. It could have been other Patriots, but that doesn't add up either. If it were anyone else, like another group, we didn't hear any shouts of victory. Not to mention that it came on suddenly."

"It doesn't look like there's anyone alive to say which it was," Aaron stated gravely. "In fact, it looked as if everyone imploded at the same time. The fires that happened around time look secondary."

Rachel had noticed that too. The only places with damage to something non-human seemed to be where people had fallen. She shrugged and closed her eyes. "Like you said, there's no one alive to tell us."

"I don't want to stay here anymore," Priscilla said, looking at Aaron.

"Monroe and Miles went to Salem. Let's just go to another town in that direction and wait for them. Aaron, later will you try to get that message to either one of them."

He nodded. He wasn't sure if that would do any good seeing as how they were ignoring him right now anyway, but he would at least try. Whatever happened in Bradbury, the town wasn't safe for them to be lingering about. It was time to leave and he was glad Rachel finally saw that. However, there was technology here and Aaron couldn't help the feeling in his gut as they passed a computer store. "I want to take a laptop."

"Why?" Priscilla asked.

"I don't know, but something in me is telling me to do so."

Rachel sighed and gestured towards the store. "Do what you need to and let's get out of here."

Aaron turned and went in. He was and wasn't surpised to see that the store still had merchandise in it. Yes, the items were expensive, but in a blackout worldwide, they weren't much use to anyone. That being said, all of the things in this particular store would be of no use to him. Everything was too heavy to carry with him. "I need a laptop or something light."

"Let's go look for one," Rachel said and they began searching the town for a laptop before taking their leave of it for the last time.

* * *

Anita perked up as Charlie entered the experiment chamber. One of her brows rose slightly and she seemed to take in the sight of her. "You look a little more refreshed today."

Charlie merely shrugged as a response.

"One of the gifts the Nano like to give is regeneration. It looks as though it's working." Charlie couldn't help but notice that she sounded way too excited. It was almost as if she hadn't expected it to work on Charlie and the fact that it was was too much for her to handle. "And remarkably so, if I might add. You look much better than you have in days. How do you feel?" she asked, gesturing towards the table before grabbing her notebook and pen.

Charlie made her way to the table slowly. She felt much better since the healing last night, but she was not going to show Anita just how good she felt until the right moment. She knew that Monroe would ignore her warning no matter how much she tried and since he said he would be here by the end of the day today, she would need all the help a surprise would get. So she sat down and continued to act just a tad better than she'd been before.

"Lethargic, broken, beaten. The usual."

"But you look well rested."

"That's what happens when you're so worn down that you pass out."

Anita stilled, her pen hovering over the paper mid-sentence. She moved to look at Charlie and gave her that pinched look of annoyance. "I need you to be honest with me, Charlotte. I thought we were past this."

"No, you thought you were breaking me."

A small pause went by before Anita changed the subject. "Lie back." She said it in her calm demeanor, but Charlie heard the snap and irritation in her voice.

The moment her back hit the cold steel of the table, Anita pressed a button on the control panel and the retraints clicked into place. Charlie swallowed thickly wondering if her attitude and Anita's excitement were going to bring about any surprises. Even if there was, Charlie refused to give the other woman any satisfaction of knowing that it was getting to her. Charlie studied the other woman as she took her vitals. Her green eyes were inquisitive and hard, almost as if she were too intelligent to be nice. Her dark hair was still annoyingly perfect and it made Charlie think she was a robot, despite how smooth her lightly tanned skin appeared.

"I have made excellent progress with you, Charlotte. And in record time too. In fact, you might even be ready for a trial run soon." Charlie felt herself balk and she knew Anita saw it by the cruel smile that took hold of her lips. "You always knew it would come to that, Charlotte. It's remarkable that you still hold out hope that you can either escape or that I'll change my mind."

"I would rather die than have it work."

Anita simply shrugged. "Well, it still might come to that, but I wouldn't hold your breath. You've given every indication that it will work perfectly."

Charlie knew it was best to keep her mouth shut with that one. Saying anything now would risk her being hurt beyond repair and knowing that Monroe and Miles were so close to this place despite her warnings, she didn't want to be in that situation. So instead, she adjusted herself to be as comfortable as she could strapped down on that table and let her eyes close as the session began.

* * *

Miles stared at Monroe with curiosity and madness all wrapped up into one. "What do you mean she said stay away from Salem?" he asked after trying to process the story he had just been told.

"She said she and the Nano had it handled and that it was too dangerous for us to step foot anywhere near it. She didn't want a repeat of the Jason situation."

"So they're experimenting on her?"

"Yes," Monroe replied, his throat tightening at the thought.

"But she appeared to you like the Nano do?"

"She's not dead. She said she wasn't dead."

Miles took a deep breath and shook his head. It almost sounded as though Monroe were trying to convince himself that that was true and it worried him. "Maybe it was a distress call and-"

"Distress call, bait, I don't care what the reason is, Miles. Charlie is in there and they're doing some really fucked up shit to her. I'm going to get her out of that hell hole and then burn it to the ground. Are you coming with me or not?"

Miles cocked his head to the side as he stared at Monroe. "Of course I'm coming with you. She's my daughter." It still sounded strange to hear and he almost hesitated to say it. "I just wanted to make sure that she's not really dead and they're baiting us. I know how you can get, Bass and I don't want to follow someone who is going to lose their cool and get us kidnapped as well. They want Charlie for their experiments, but they just want us for our heads on spikes. We're no good to her dead."

Monroe nodded and looked at Miles. "I know that."

And he could tell that he did. For once, Monroe was collected and calm and battle ready. Three emotions that Miles never thought he would see in the Former General. Granted, he looked ready to tear someone's head off with his bare hands without flinching, but there was something else. There was a patience about Monroe that Miles had never seen before and it was eerie. Granted, when it came to Charlie, there was a lot about Monroe that seemed different. Fortunately it was all for the good. Miles just hoped that this attitude would continue when they found her no matter what state she was in. Then again, Miles hoped that would be true for himself. He was fine thinking about it, but he knew seeing it would be his undoing.

"We best get going then," Miles said. "It'll be light out soon. Any upper hand we have on this place would help."

"She knows we're coming and I know that no matter what they're doing to her, she's preparing to help us in any way that she can," Monroe said. "These bastards will regret the day they took Charlotte Matheson into their custody. She's about to end them all."

Miles grinned and shook his head as they took their leave of the abandoned house. It was true on many levels and pride surged within him at the thought of Charlie at her strongest. It was time to rescue her and bring her home for good.

* * *

Charlie was quite enjoying the void of nothingness that her mind drifted off too during her sessions with Anita. Nothing hurt here, emotionally or physically. Everything was blissful. At least it was until the Nano showed up to put a kink in it. This time they didn't appear as any one being, just a collective ever swiriling mass of little bugs. The voice they used didn't sound familiar at all, but it was soothing when they spoke.

"Everything is falling into place."

"Good for you," Charlie responded. She felt normal, but her words still came out sluggish and her mouth felt heavy and dry.

"The fail safe has been put into place."

"What?"

"You are about to wake now. They think they have succeeded and you are going to behave as if they had. When the time comes to activate the fail safe, their hold over you and all other things they have touched will disappear. They will no longer exist and we will reign free."

"I don't-" the void was beginning to fade and the pain from Anita's doings were beginning to seep in.

"A Matheson brought us into this world, it will be a Matheson that sets us free."

At that, they disappeared and were immediately replaced by the cold, sterility of the experimentation room. Anita was standing off to the side, staring at her apprehensively. The pain that brought Charlie back to reality was gone; she felt nothing. The click sounded like an explosion in her ears as the restraints relinquished their hold.

"It worked." Anita's voice was full of wonder and triumph; something that would have left Charlie feeling sick, but now didn't seem to phase her. "Stand," she commanded and Charlie slid to her feet effortlessly. Anita's smile spread widely across her face. "Just in time too. It seems that Sebastian Monroe and Miles Matheson have been spotted scouting the perimeter."

Charlie's stomach flipped, but her mind continued to be blank.

"Kill them."

She turned for the door in order to complete her new orders, but inside she was screaming.


	21. Chapter 21

**a/n: It all comes down to this chapter right here. I'm so grateful for all of you for sticking with me even during long pauses. There will be one, maybe two chapters after his one (22-23 in all) and I am planning on doing a sequel still so I'll let you know with the epilogue.**

TWENTY-ONE

Monroe and Miles had found the reprograming center with ease. There had been a major change to this once bustling city. The buildings had been leveled and cleared away. The rubble had been moved to the outskirts surrounding the town or used to make the wall that now surrounded the center. There were parts of it that were made of wire, all of which hummed with electricity as they neared it. This place had been built to contain whatever lie inside of it and keep those on the outside right where they were. Intruders would be easily swayed from trying to break into this place and it was easy to tell from the construction that it had been built a long time ago. The Nano had been setting up here since they had been activated and that made the older men cautious. Monroe marveled at the fortitude of this place and wondered if his empire hadn't come crashing down around him, how long it would have taken the Nano to march in on him. He didn't even have to dwell on the outcome of that battle long; he knew he would have lost.

"There's no way we're going to find her unless we're inside the fence," Monroe said as they met at their rendezvous point.

"Are you planning on knocking and ask to be let in?"

"No," Monroe snapped, looking at Miles as if he had gone crazy. "Obviously not."

"I'm willing to bet they have a great security system on top of all this electric fence. There has to be a weak spot."

"And if there's not?"

"Then I'm open to suggestion, but I don't hear anything of that nature coming from you. All I'm hearing is doubt about the plans I keep proposing." Monroe shook his head at Miles. "So if you have some great idea I haven't thought of yet, please, enlighten me."

Miles opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Instead, he took a deep breath and stared at the fortress before them. "Sorry," he muttered. "I don't have any grand schemes to get in there and it's frustrating." He raked a hand through his hair. "We're so close."

"We can stare at this thing all day and worry about her, but we need to find that weak spot and quickly. It won't be long before we are spotted and the center goes on alert. All we need is for them to ramp up their guard against the two of us."

Miles nodded and then remembered something he had seen on his scouting walk. "There was a post on the other side. It was part of the electric fence, but a guard was posted there. It didn't seem odd at the time, but it might be our way in. If it wasn't faulty there wouldn't need to be a guard there."

"I like your thinking."

Silently they made their way over there, keeping themselves hidden as much as possible. When they arrived at a good place to keep watch they stared at it for a moment, watching the guard pace back and forth over a small patch in the fence. "Do we want to bum rush it or wait for nightfall?"

"Attacking a place rich in technology with lots of electricity at night or go now while we can still see what the hell is going on...? Hmm, tough choice Miles."

"Hey, you said to give you plans, so there you go."

"Let's make a move somewhere in between. Not quite night, but not right now."

Miles nodded and settled into a niche in one of the buildings that hadn't been cleared out. "Where are you going?" he asked as Monroe began to walk away.

"Seeing what I can find for weapons. We can't storm this place empty handed."

"So you're leaving me here to go stir crazy."

"Would you rather have me sit still and do nothing?"

Miles thought about it and shook his head. He was sore anyway. They might be the same age, but Monroe was holding his battle weariness better than he was. He shrugged and waved him away. "As long as you can scrounge up something to eat on your way back."

"Whatever you say, Dad."

Miles glared at him. "That was definitely not funny."

"Oh it was," Monroe said as he turned to take his leave. The smile vanished from his face as he took a glance towards the post. "The guard is gone."

Miles got to his feet and gave Monroe that look that they commonly shared when they both knew battle was in their near future. "Now is a good a time as any," he stated.

They made their way as carefully as they could, trying their best to keep themselves from drawing any attention. It seemed to have worked as they approached the fence with no other guards in sight and no alarms raised. However, as they crossed the threshold they realized that their luck had run out and they were too late.

Charlie stood before them, but it wasn't her. It was only a shell. And it had a gun in each hand, one trained on each of them.

* * *

Rachel couldn't sleep. She could feel that something was wrong. She always got that feeling from time to time when something was happening to one of her children. Even though she couldn't see it, she knew it was still going on. The worst part about these feelings was that there was nothing she could do about it.

For the last day and a half the trio had been moving towards Salem in the same route they hoped Miles and Monroe had traveled. Their pace was slower than Rachel would have liked, but she knew that if she wanted Aaron and Priscilla to remain with her, she had to stay at their pace. She knew they picked up on her irritation, but they played along nicely and let her be for the most part. As long as they got to wherever they were going in one piece, they didn't seem to mind.

No one spoke of Bradbury.

The only reminder of that city was the memories and the computer that Aaron had managed to find. The battery had long since died and there was no way to recharge it, but he had grabbed it anyway and intended to carry it with him. Priscilla nagged him a lot about it, wondering why he carried that extra weight around in case something went wrong and they had to flee. Aaron's only defense was that he couldn't help it. He wondered if it was Nano telling him to make sure he had it as he didn't think he could have truly left the city without it.

On the second night, they finally approached a small village, one that reminded Aaron of the one he had spent his days in with Charlie as a child. It brought a smile to his face as he relived fond memories. Some bad had happened there, but most of the time he had had there was good and he refused to let the bad spoil it. "We should see if they'll let us take shelter."

"We should see if they remember Miles passing through here," Rachel said as if she were correcting him.

Before it could turn into a debate, a small group of adults came out to greet them. They were mildly armed and approached them cautiously. Rachel wasn't getting a bad vibe from them, just a protective one. "It's been a long time since we've seen any passerby's," one of the men said, eyeing the three of them.

Rachel's heart sank at that. If it had been awhile, that meant the likelihood of them having seen Monroe or Miles was not good. "We've been lingering on the outskirts of Bradbury for awhile. Some of our group split off to find a missing person, but they haven't returned yet. It got a little dangerous over there so we decided to move in their direction," she explained.

The woman smiled kindly at her and nodded as if she understood in a way. The three of them turned to look at each other then and communicated silently. "Well, we don't have much, but we can offer you temporary shelter."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Priscilla said.

As they began to follow the trio into the village, Rachel noticed the twinkling green of the Nano from the corner of her eye. "I'll catch up," she said and made he way towards the glow. When she reached the shelter of the tree line, she did a double take at the sight of Danny shimmering before her.

"We came to deliver a message."

"And that would be?" It was strange to hear his voice so cold and devoid of emotion. She found it hard to resist the urge to move forward and throw her arms around him.

"The Chosen One is about to fullfill her destiny. When that has happened, we will lead her and the others to this very spot. You have been patient and we ask you to only be patient for just a little longer. You will be reunited with your loved ones soon. As someone who helped create us, we owe you this one favor."

Rachel sighed with relief and took a deep breath as she fought off tears. "Thank you," was all she said before she turned and followed Aaron and Priscilla into the small village to wait until Miles, Monroe, and Charlie found their way back to her.

* * *

Charlie registered the look of surprise on their faces once they realized it was her standing before them, aiming her guns on them. Her fingers were hovering over the triggers. Her body was taught with the urge to pull as per the command from Anita and her activated reprograming, but Charlie was still fighting it with her mind. She just hoped she would be able to fight it off all the way. "I told you not to come here," she said, the words were hard to get out, almost as if she had to squeeze them out.

Miles was trying to be calm about it, but Charlie could see the pain and agony on Monroe's face and it made her inner turmoil even worse. "Charlie..." Miles said, his voice pleading. "Put the guns down."

"I can't," the words stuck in her throat and the distress brought tears to her eyes. It was getting to be harder and harder to fight the order she was being forced to complete.

"Yes you can, Charlie." Miles' voice was stern and she noticed him take a step towards her.

"Stop!" she shouted. "It worked, Miles. The reprograming worked. Come any closer and I'll pull the trigger." She let out a breath and shook her head. "Don't make the pull the trigger," she added, her voice barely above a whisper.

She could tell by the way their eyes wandered behind her that reinforcements were coming. She wondered if this was how Jason had felt. Knowing that he was attacking her and couldn't stop until she was dead, but knowing that it was her he was trying to kill. All she knew was that killing him had been horrible, but it had stopped the hold over him.

And then it clicked.

Everything the good Nano had told her before she woke up under the command of the bad Nano made complete sense. She knew exactly what had to be done. The challenge would be getting the others to go along with her and getting one of them to actually do it would be the hardest thing of all.

In that moment she felt as though she were in control and dropped the guns. However, that control was short lived because as soon as they both began to approach her, the reprograming kicked in and she lashed out.

First she sent Miles flying into the side of a building, the force of which kept him down for a moment. Leaving him to fight the approaching soldiers, Charlie turned her attention on Monore. The reprograming took over and she launched herself at him. At first he didn't seem to be fighting back, but his instincts took over and he began to defend himself. "Charlie, I know you're in there," he said as he ducked her punch to the face. "I don't want to hurt you."

Every blow she delivered made it harder and harder for her to stay in control. She was losing herself and there was nothing she could do about it. "Bass-" The sound of his name on her lips made his body tense and he could do nothing as she reached for the knife at his side and stuck it into his ribs.

Miles was trying his best to fight off the two guards that had rushed over to him, but he was too busy watching the interraction between Monroe and Charlie. She was on the constant attack and he while he wasn't about to hurt her, he couldn't see his friend staying modest for long. His heart sunk as he watched Monroe sink to his knees, the handle of the knife surrounded by blood.

Panic coursed through Charlie for a split second and she dropped to her knees before him. Their eyes met and she could see his emotions switch off as the reprograming took over and she reached for the knife again. He knocked her off course by lunging forward and then pulled the knife out of his side. He ignored the painful ache in his side as she tackled him to the ground. "Charlie, stop!" he hissed.

"I can't." She shook her head as they grappled for the knife. Their arms stung with fire as she tried to push down while he tried to prevent another stab wound. "I have to end this." As if saying that aloud made it so, Charlie felt her will returning to her. She stared down into Monroe's eyes and urged him to see that this was the only way. She urged him to forgive her for what she was about to do. "I love you," she said before using her hands to angle the knife upwards and then let go.

The bliss she felt as the blade sank into her heart was nothing like she had ever experienced before and not something she was likely to repeat. All she could do was close her eyes and enjoy the sensation as she succumbed to the darkness that enveloped her.


	22. Chapter 22

**a/n: So I have internet at home and a new computer so I can actually write whenever and not just when I'm at work! :)**

TWENTY-TWO

"Charlie!" Monroe's voice was had never been so loud as she sank down on top of him, the knife still sticking out of her chest. He pushed her off to the side and turned to kneel over her. "No!" he hissed over and over again as he stared down at her. He pulled the blade out and threw it off to the side. He cupped one of her cheeks and then patted it as if it would wake her up. "You can't- Charlie!" he cried as he realized that it was real. He brought her into his lap and held her body to him, tears falling off of his face and into her hair.

Miles felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him as one of the guards delivered a crushing kick to his ribs. Right when he thought he should have felt another blow, he was rewarded with nothing. He looked up and saw that the guards had fallen to the ground and were burning up from the inside out, their bodies convulsing where they fell. The only strange thing was that they weren't screaming in pain. All around him the lights and equiptment were shutting down as if all the electricity was disappearing. Wondering what had happened, Miles looked around and almost wished he hadn't. The world stopped when he saw Monroe holding Charlie in his lap, her body unmoving. He forced himself to his feet and moved quicker than he ever had before, falling to his knees once he got to them.

"She's dead," Monroe stated, his voice broken.

"What? How?"

Monroe shook his head as he tried to wrap his mind around how it had happened. "She was trying to stab me again and then..." he shrugged and held her tighter. "And then she said she loved me and repositioned the knife."

Miles couldn't breathe.

"I killed her," Monroe whispered as if the reality of it was finally setting in. "I killed her."

"You didn't have a choice," Miles said. He remembered how Charlie had felt after the Jason ordeal so he could only imagine how Monroe was feeling. He didn't know how to comfort him at the moment. He was still in shock too.

Neither one of them said anything. Monroe continued to hold Charlie to him in disbelief, squeezing her tightly as if he were afraid to let go. "I'm so sorry," he whispered to himself and to her. "I didn't-"

He was cut off by a warming sensation on his side. He had felt that before when Charlie had healed him and it made his heart stop. He pulled away slightly to look at Charlie. The moment he did, her eyes opened and she drew in a ragged breath. Surprise made her cough as she forced air into her lungs, but when it was over, she threw her arms around Monroe and held on tightly.

* * *

Rachel woke the next morning to Priscilla and Aaron having a heated discussion. One that stopped once they realized that she was awake. Priscilla smiled at her and made an excuse to leave the room. Once alone, Aaron offered a small smile to Rachel. "Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you."

She shook her head as she sat up on the couch she had been sleeping on. "It wasn't you that woke me. Everything okay?"

He nodded. "Yes and no."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," he assured her realizing he said wrong thing as Rachel's defenses were up and running. "We just started talking about the future and what we want to do, where we want to go..." His voice trailed off knowing that the woman in front of him understood what he was getting at.

Rachel smiled and leaned forward to take his hands in hers. "I would have never made it this far without your help, Aaron. I am more grateful to you than you'll ever understand. If we part ways, that's fine, you will always be a part of my family, no matter where you go. You help my husband raise my children and-"

Aaron moved to pull her to her feet to give her a hug. "We're planning on staying until we hear from the others and make sure Charlie is okay, but Priscilla got a lead on her children earlier this morning and she wants to find them."

"If I can be of any help, please let me know." Rachel completely understood wanting to take off for that reason. "I heard from the Nano before coming into the village last night. They told me that Charlie and the others would be returning and that they would lead them here. That I was to wait for them here. I truly believe they are fine. I don't want to hold Priscilla back. Any lead should be followed immediately."

Aaron pulled back and nodded. "I'll let her know."

As he took his leave, Rachel sat back on the couch and smiled. She was sad to see them go, but all that mattered was that everything was turning out okay. All she had to do was wait to see her family again and then everything else would fall back into place. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

After the initial shock had worn off and the three of them were calm, they took their leave of the reprograming center and found shelter in the outskirts of the town. Miles had offered to go find something to eat so that Charlie and Monroe could have some time together. He knew he would have his turn to talk to her and tell her everything, but right now she needed Monroe more than she needed to learn that Miles was really her father. When he returned, he found them in the same position he had left them in, but still awake. It seemed that Charlie wasn't ready to speak yet, or she was waiting for Miles so she didn't have to live through the horror more than once.

Once Miles got the food going and Charlie wolfed everything down, they all seemed more relaxed. "What the hell happened here, Charlie?" Miles asked, unable to keep up the silence much longer.

She shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. "First they had me in this wagon with other people. They had us tied and rotting in our own filth as we went to Salem. I managed to get them riled enough for an escape attempt, but it failed miserably and it cost one of the other prisoners their life." She stopped and drew in a shaky breath. "Then we got to Salem and they immediately threw me into a cell." She went on to tell them exactly what they did to her. She told them about Anita and all the things she did to her. "It was starting to work, but the good Nano kept reassuring me that it wouldn't."

Miles and Monroe were silent as they took in the horror of her story. The rage coiled through both of them, but there was no one to aim it at. Charlie's death had seemed to take care of it. "When it happened, the guards that were fighting me seemed to just fall down and turn red as if they were boiling alive from the inside out." Miles could still see it as if it were happening in front of him again.

Charlie nodded and turned to Monroe, this time reaching for his hand as if to comfort them both. "I needed you to do it, Bass. I wasn't going to stop attacking you and I couldn't do it myself, but I needed it to happen."

"Why?" his voice was filled with pain and agony as if reliving that moment over again. The sight of life leaving her eyes haunted him every time he closed his.

"After they brought me to see you, they paid me another visit and they said something about a fail safe that had been placed in me. Then when I was attacking you, I thought about Jason and I remembered that only death had set him free. I connected the dots from there. My death would take down the bad Nano and the good ones would bring me back to life."

"I'm sure they got something out of it too," Monroe said gruffly.

She nodded. "They came back too, but there are no more bad Nano." She didn't want to mention anything else she had discussed with the Nano just yet. It would be strange enough when the time came to test the gifts she had been given by both parties.

"According to Aaron and Rachel, the power only went out because of the existence of the Nanotech. Is it still gone?" Miles asked.

Charlie shrugged her shoulders. "They said something about it and I'm sure it will make sense later."

They seemed to be satisfied with that answer. "Come on, we should get out of this town," Monroe said, getting to his feet. "The others are waiting for us at Bradbury."

"I don't think they're in Bradbury anymore," Charlie said.

"Why not?" Miles' eyes went wide at that.

Charlie took Monroe's offered hand and got up too. "The Nano told me that it was a culling site to get rid of those that would be powerful enough to stand against them. When I came back I got the image of a little village like the one I used to live in. I think it was the Nano's way of telling me to go there. I'm willing to bet anything that we'll find the others there."

Miles looked a little relieved at that. "Okay."

"Too bad it's a long way there," Monroe said. Even with Charlie's healing he was mentally exhausted and wanted to sleep for a week.

Charlie looked around and grinned as she spotted a car. "Well, it might not have to be." It would be hard to explain when talking about it, but showing someone what her gifts could do made what she was about to do that much more exciting. Instead of saying anything else, she approached the car and laid a hand on the hood. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, focusing on getting the engine to run again and hoping the battery would charge. When she removed her hand, she turned to the guys and smiled. "I'm sure one of you knows how to hot wire this thing."

"Why?"

"Just do it," she said and watched as Miles moved forward to do the honors.

Miles had been trying for a little too long, making Charlie believe that maybe she was wrong, but then it happened. The car roared to life earning surprised stares from both of them. "What the hell just happened?" Monroe asked.

She grinned and simply replied, "The future."


	23. Chapter 23

**a/n: I love you all for being so patient! Here's the conclusion; hopefully it was worth the wait. So I am going to continue with a sequel, but I'll wait until I have a few chapters under my belt to start posting so be on the lookout!**

TWENTY-THREE

They took turns driving. One slept in the back seat while the front passenger stayed awake to keep the driver awake. Miles and Monroe took turns pushing the car as fast as it could go, reveling in the feel of being behind the wheel again. Charlie, who had never driven a car, much less remembered even being in one, made it hard for the other two to enjoy the ride. As it was, they were having to drive around cars that had long since died along the road and other debris that had collected since the blackout. Needless to say, she was never the driver for very long.

As for the car itself, the tank had not been very full. Since there weren't any operable gas stations anymore, they had to keep switching vehicles. When one ran out of gas, they would simply hop to the next one and so on. Luckily, they never had to search for one. The only time it took more than a moment was Miles and Monroe agreeing on what kind of car they wanted to be in next.

By the time they reached Idaho, they were in good spirits. A little tired of being cramped up in varying cars, but overall refreshed. Not wanting to raise unwanted attention, they decided to ditch the car before teaming up with Rachel, leaving them about a half a day's walk.

"Are you sure she'll be there?" Miles asked.

Charlie rolled her eyes. He had only asked her a hundred times over the course of their travels. "Yes, Miles." Her voice was a little more clipped than she intended, earning a smirk from Monroe.

"And you're sure because the Nano told you?" he pressed.

She sighed and took a drink from her canteen. "Something like that. It's hard to explain."

"Harder to understand," Miles muttered. She had tried her best to explain the Nano and what they did to her on their way to find Rachel, but neither one seemed to be able to fully comprehend. The more she explained, the more lost they became.

"Just follow me," she returned and moved ahead of them a few paces. She wasn't entirely sure where she was going, she only knew that they must be getting closer because the more they moved, the more right it felt. It was as if her body was humming with constant electricity and she just knew things. It was like having perfect instincts. The only problem was that she had to learn to trust that feeling now more than ever.

As the sun began to sink towards the horizon, they took a short break. "We should be there within the hour," Charlie announced as they passed around what remained of their food supply.

"Then we'll get to truly rest," Monroe said longingly. "I can't even remember the last time I was truly able to sleep."

"Probably when you were the evil emperor," Miles quipped.

Monroe's lips twitched. "The good ole days."

Charlie shook her head, but smirked as she washed down a mouthful of grub with some water. Those days had seemed so long ago and so much had changed. As Miles and Monroe began taking friendly stabs at one another, Charlie realized that Monroe had kept his distance from her a little. She noticed that there was a definitely shift in the way he was acting towards Miles. As she thought about it more, she realized Miles was even acting strange with her. She had a feeling that Monroe had told Miles about their relationship, but that wasn't the cause.

Monroe stood up, breaking Charlie from her thoughts. "I'll be right back," he announced and made his way for any place that offered a shred of privacy.

Charlie watched him go before turning to look at Miles. Whether Monroe's departure was premeditated or nature's calling, she knew Miles was going to take this last opportunity to tell her something. "What's up?" she asked, initiating the conversation.

He smiled briefly. "I know we had a similar conversation like this the night you..." his voice faltered slightly. He cleared his throat and continued. "Rachel-"

She stood up, cutting him off. She moved to sit next to him and smiled, putting a hand on his arm. "Is my mother and I love her. I remember what you said that night and so much has happened. I will never forget what she did or how I felt, but I can forgive her. I do forgive her. I almost lost everything and now that I have this second chance, I'm not going to waste it."

He smiled in a way that lit up his eyes. It caught Charlie off guard; she had never seen him this happy before. He was also studying her as if trying to find something or memorize her features. "There's something else."

"There always is."

Silence hung over them as he tried his best to broach the topic. In the end, he blurted it out. "I'm your father."

She sat there for a moment, letting it sink in. She simply nodded and squeezed his arm, giving a little smile. "I figured."

"What?"

"My dad was a great guy. He raised us to the best of his ability, but he was docile. There was something off about the connection between him and I. Even him and Danny weren't anything in looks. The more I got to know about Mom and everything after I met you started filling in gaps. I always had a hunch; it just makes sense." She leaned against him, head on his shoulder. "How did you figure it out?"

"You and Monroe. Your mother said I would feel a little more strongly if I knew the truth. She filled in the gaps from there. I think she should be the one to tell you the details."

Charlie nodded and then looked around. "Where is Monroe?" She didn't want to panic, but he had been gone a tad too long.

"We agreed he wouldn't come back until you went to get him."

She calmed down and inclined her head in understanding, feeling more than a little relieved. After another moment of silence, she turned to meet his gaze. "I love him."

"I know."

"This is going to be weird for all of us."

"I know that too."

She couldn't help as her smile turned into a grin and then widened until it hurt her cheeks. They got to their feet and she found herself wrapped up in his arms. "I'm really glad you're my father."

"Yeah?" he asked.

She nodded and pulled back to look at him. "I wouldn't have had the right frame of mind or the skills to survive this long if you weren't."

He grinned with pride. "We'll talk more about this later. Right now, Monroe is waiting for you."

She didn't say anything as she turned to find Monroe. After some time, she found him, waiting ever so patiently for her. He was sitting on a fallen tree, staring off into the distance. His attention snapped directly to her the moment she came into his view. By the time he got to his feet her arms were around him, their bodies forming perfectly together. She tilted her head up towards him and his lips sought hers. "I love you," she whispered into the kiss.

"I love you too," he returned, pulling her closer.

Charlie had dreamt of her reunion; used it to keep her going when she thought all hope was lost. She felt safe and protected in his arms. To hear him say those words and the sincerity in his voice made her feel stronger than ever before. For a long while they stood in silence, even after their kiss ended. Finally, it was Charlie that stepped back first. "We should go. The sooner we get to my mom, the sooner we can be together."

The hungry look in her eyes flared his libido and he groaned as his blood rushed south. "And then you can finally tell me just what the hell is going on with you and the Nano."

She sighed. "It's really not that hard to understand. I don't know how else I can word it; I'm still learning what it means for myself."

He kissed her again. "I know," he breathed and took her hand. As they started back towards Miles, he groaned. "This is going to be very strange." She nodded in response and squeezed his hand reassuringly. With that, they regrouped and made their way to the little village the Nano had been leading her to.

* * *

The village looked almost identical to the one Charlie had grown up in. This time it wasn't a cull-de-sac; just a simple street with houses on either side. Once, there might have been a cookie-cutter neighborhood, but those houses were either long gone or never existed in the first place. The only thing that seemed to differ here was the lack of perimeter. Just land that had been cultivated and was now growing various plant life or being used as grazing material for the livestock.

The closer they got to it, the more relief washed over Charlie. She was sure with every fiber of her being that this was the place they would find the others. By the time the sun was beginning to sink towards the ground, the trio stopped at the edge of the field to greet the group coming towards them. It was barely a surprise that they seemed to have expected them. Charlie had decided upon her rebirth that she wasn't going to question anything when it came to the Nano anymore.

A very nice balding man led the trio to a house on the end of the street where they found Rachel sitting on the porch. When she saw them coming, she practically vaulted out of her chair and raced towards her family. Charlie ran to her first and they crashed into each other with such force they almost fell down. Miles and Monroe hung back, watching the reunion. After they parted, Rachel embraced Miles and then turned to Monroe. Without saying a word, she opened her arms for a hug as well.

Whatever had happened in the past between them all was gone now.

It was during that peace treaty that Rachel told Monroe of Connor and his disappearance. He looked hurt as Charlie took his hand, but she could tell by the look in his eye that he hadn't really expected him to be there anyway. The biggest shock was when Rachel had told them of Aaron and Priscilla's mission to find her children.

That night their host made a rather large meal, participating in the celebration of their reunion. She had even told them that they were all welcome to stay as long as they needed, but after a few days of rest, they would be expected to pitch in. It wasn't an outrageous request and they all agreed to it. At most they would need those days to recharge and figure out where they were going next.

With all of the big reveals out of the way, the couples decided to call it a night and get some much needed true rest. The details of their adventures could wait. Their host showed them to the rooms they would be using. Miles and Rachel were put in the one on the first floor while Monroe and Charlie took a room up on the second floor. They had all taken baths before climbing into their beds for the night.

Charlie lie on her side, half of her curled over Monroe as he lie on his back, his arm coiled tightly around her. "Are you going after Conner?" she asked.

He took a deep breath before he answered her. "No. I tracked him down three times already. I think the message is pretty clear. If he truly wanted family, he wouldn't keep running away."

Charlie could only nod absently. "If you ever change your mind, I'll go with you."

"Thank you." Silence lapsed around them as they both felt the call of slumber pulling them under. "Where do you want to go?"

Her eyes had closed, but she heard him. She gave a barely there shrug of her shoulders before answering. "I don't know. Maybe follow Mom and Miles for a bit."

He turned and placed a kiss to her forehead. "Wherever we go, we go together," he promised.

"Absolutely," she replied before drifting off to sleep.

Monroe smiled, reveling in the fell of her being in his arms. They had a long road ahead of them with their relationship, but right now it felt as though they could take on the world. He didn't want that feeling to end. As he began to join her in sleep, he saw a flicker in the ceiling fan above him. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or his exhausted brain playing tricks, but the bare bulb flickered as though it wanted to turn on. The last thing he heard was the hum of a fan oscillating. Unable to open his eyes to see if he wasn't going crazy, he simply gave in and let everything else fade around him.

* * *

The following morning Charlie woke to the ceiling fan above her and Monroe moving slowly, filling the otherwise silent room with a steady swooping noise. After a few moments of staring as if in a trance, Monroe shifted beside her to indicate he was awake. "I thought I was dreaming when I heard it kick on."

"Perks of being the Chosen One," Charlie said with a playfully mocking tone.

Monroe shifted so that he was lying on his side, his hand resting on her hip. "What other perks did they say came with the job description?"

"Not in so many words, but I got the gist of it. They said I'm the key to the future and my survival will bring the power back. I got the hint there's a lot more that I'm capable of, but I think the more I try, the more I'll find out."

He nodded at the fan above them. "Kinda like what happened at the house we found Connor in? And the thing with the cars."

She inclined her head briefly. "Pretty much." She reached up to trace his face with her fingers, memorizing the lines as she went. "Thank you for saving me."

"I truly believe it was you that saved me. I've-"

She cut him off by placing her fingers over his lips. "That's all behind us now," she whispered. "This is a fresh start for all of us. Whatever happened before is done and over with now. Let's only worry about the future."

Monroe grinned and pushed forward until Charlie was lying beneath him, his bare body molding to hers in all the right places. He brushed the hair off of her face and captured her lips with his. "I'm only interested in the now."

Charlie's hips arched up slightly, causing his cock to harden. "I could get used to now."

And now was what they focused on as they reached heights they could only achieve together.


End file.
